The 'Apollo 13' of macroeconomic policy : The 'successful failure' of the UK quantitative easing anti-crisis monetary mission

de Vita, G. and Abbott, A. (2011) The 'Apollo 13' of macroeconomic policy : The 'successful failure' of the UK quantitative easing anti-crisis monetary mission. Public Money and Management, 31 (6). pp. 387-394. ISSN 0954-0962

Abstract

This article appraises the recent UK quantitative easing (QE) monetary experiment. From March 2009 to February 2010, the Bank of England spent £200 billion on gilts and corporate bonds. This experiment represents, as a proportion of GDP, the most ambitious monetary policy ‘mission’ in history. Using several indicators to examine the impact of QE, our analysis leads to a conclusion which, metaphorically, is akin to that ascribed to the 1970 Apollo 13 Moon mission: a ‘successful failure’.