Lesson 2 of 8 · 4 min

Monetary Policy 3 (MP3)

When rate cuts run out, central banks print and buy.

When short-term interest rates reach zero, traditional monetary policy stops working. Central banks then move to what some economists call MP3: creating money to purchase financial assets directly.

MP3 raises the price of the assets being purchased — government bonds, mortgage-backed securities, and indirectly equities and real estate. It also suppresses yields available to ordinary savers.

The effect is allocative: holders of financial assets gain, while holders of cash and fixed-rate savings lose purchasing power. This is the mechanical reason wealth gaps tend to widen during sustained MP3 regimes.

Self-check

3 quick questions

Q1. MP3 begins when…
Q2. Who tends to benefit most from MP3?
Q3. MP3 is best described as…

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