Worries are emerging around the nearing end of the cycle – and the possibility that the usual tools won’t work to revive it. More and more academic work is exploring unconventional policy and offers some comfort that it’s likely to work while policy-makers keep pushing for more easing.

Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Why the Answer to the Inflation Puzzle Matters (Brookings) Janet Yellen explains persistent low inflation and a flattened Philips Curve. She sees plenty of room for stimulating the economy and stoking wage gains without significant inflation.

Emergency Liquidity Injections (Reserve Bank of Australia) Compares the effectiveness of different methods of emergency liquidity injections in the banking system. Secured lending via repo seems best since it curbs fire sales and reduces incentive for liquidity risk-taking. Asset purchases aren’t as effective since banks aren’t required to commit future income as collateral.

Unconventional Monetary Policy Tools: A Cross-Country Analysis (BIS) Offers evidence that supports the use of unconventional monetary policy (negative rates, asset purchase programmes, forward guidance) in dealing with a downturn. Side effects such as overdependence on Central Bank funding and compressed rate margins are likely.