Vitor Constancio On ECB Inflation Targeting, Monetary Policy Limits And Europe Risks

Vitor was the Vice President of the ECB until a few years ago. And before that held numerous high-profile roles including being Portugal’s finance minister, the central bank governor of Portugal and negotiating the entry of Portugal into the EEC – the forerunner to the EU. Vitor is currently President of the Council of ISEG at the University of Lisbon and a Professor at the Navarra University in Madrid.. In this podcast we discuss:

1. The evolution of monetary policy since the 1970s
2. Is there a limit to the size of central bank’s balance sheet?
3. How low inflation accelerated ECB QE
4. Why central banks cannot control inflation perfectly
5. Does the ECB target the euro
6. Views on the Fed’s new average inflation target and whether ECB will follow
7. Why QE and loose fiscal policy is not MMT
8. Should central banks target income inequality
9. How the ECB can support climate change policies
10. Why fiscal policy is needed more than monetary policy
11. And Twitter footnote: Europe’s two downside risks – delays in recovery fund disbursements and credit supply issues.