ABSTRACT
In the wake of the financial crisis of 2007-8, a lot of attention focused on monetary policies, including actions by the Federal Reserve (the Fed) in the United States and the European Central Bank (ECB). The Fed took extraordinary measures to keep U.S. interest rates very low, in an effort to stimulate the economy. The ECB struggled with debt crises in which some of its member states, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, and especially Greece, needed central bank support to keep up with payments to their creditors.
