25  My colleague Anna Breman discussed yield curve control in her speech last spring. See Breman (2021). 26 See The Swedish Parliament (2022) and SOU 2022:10. 9 [19]  also applies here pending further research results. And here I think there will be a lot to learn in the future. In recent years, we have made a considerable analysis of the effects of asset purchases.27 Looking ahead, I am convinced that research can help the central banks with new results, which can more accurately estimate the effects of both QE and QT on the economy. I shall be very interested to see the results. After all, monetary policy needs to develop in pace with the times. A historical parallel to the phase we are in now is when the inflation target regime was established in 1993. The first pioneers had rather limited experience of practical inflation-targeting policy to rely on, and a limited knowledge of which indicators could guide monetary policy.28  The communication challenge One very important issue that we must develop before the next economic downturn is communication regarding asset purchases. I discussed this in my speech a year ago.29 How can we clearly link asset purchases to the capacity to attain the inflation target? Here there is a lesson to be learned for many central banks, including the Riksbank. I believe that the repo-rate path will remain by far the most important tool when we communicate with the public about future monetary policy.
In my speech a year ago, I said that one of the great lessons of the global financial crisis in 2008 and, not least, the coronavirus crisis in 2020, was that the repo rate, our policy rate, is not sufficient as a monetary policy tool to stabilise inflation at around 2 per cent.2 The global financial crisis in 2008 and the years thereafter showed that the socalled lower bound for the policy rate was not only an interesting fact, but also 1 I would like to thank Björn Lagerwall for his help with writing this speech, Johan Almenberg, Meredith Beechey  Österholm, Emma Bylund, Charlotta Edler, Dag Edvardsson, Jesper Hansson, Stefan Ingves, Marianne Nessén, Emelie Nilsson, Åsa Olli Segendorf, Ulf Stejmar, Marianne Sterner, Anders Vredin and Magnus Åhl for their help and valuable comments, and Elizabeth Nilsson for translation of the speech into English. 2 See Skingsley (2021). 1 [19]  real constraint on monetary policy. A further lesson from the crisis was that the turbulence on the financial markets could entail the monetary policy steering rate quite simply not having an impact on the interest rates charged to companies and households. Asset purchases can address both of these issues. They can contribute to further stimulus when it is not possible to cut the policy rate. And they can reduce the difference between the policy rate and the interest rate charged to households and companies when there is financial turbulence.