Whatever-It-Takes Policymaking during the Pandemic | Economics, Applied | Steven Davis and Kathryn Dominguez | Hoover Institution

Central banks responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with large-scale purchases of bonds, commercial paper, and other financial assets. In some cases, central banks announced “open-ended” programs, with no explicit limits on the scale or duration of asset purchases. Did these open-ended interventions have larger effects on interest rates? On exchange rates? Is this type of purposeful policy vagueness useful in the conduct of monetary policy? If so, why? And when? Join Steven Davis and guest Kathryn Dominguez as they discuss these issues and consider the wisdom of “open-endedness” in central bank policy pronouncements.