Central Bankers: Failed Heroes?

In the Balance

Should central bankers, once seen as the new rock stars of the finance world, be more aptly described as failed heroes? As the world's finance ministries battle to revive their ailing, post-crisis economies, they have increasingly turned to the central bankers to do whatever it takes according to Mario Draghi, to keep those economic wheels turning. As a result, interest rates have been slashed in the rich world and some banks have launched massive programmes of quantitative easing. But have these technical remedies for economic stagnation run their course? As the debt piles rise and the rates approach zero or even negative in some countries - are the bankers' big bazookas as they were once memorably called, running out of ammunition?

The BBC's Ed Butler is joined by three guests - DeAnne Julius, a founding member of the Monetary Policy Committee which sets the Bank of England's interest rates, Jeff Deist, president of the Mises Institute, a long-time critic of the tactics deployed by the leading central banks, and Usha Thorat, a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai.

(Photo: Computer graphic of a man opening his shirt revealing a t-shirt with percent symbol. Credit: Wavebreakmedia Ltd)