Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of the Bank of England's quantitative easing policy on UK asset prices. Based on analysis of the reaction of financial market prices and model-based estimates, we find that asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves - which by February 2010 totalled £200 billion - may have depressed medium to longterm government bond yields by about 100 basis points, with the largest part of the impact coming through a portfolio balance effect. The wider impact on other asset prices is more difficult to disentangle from other influences: the initial impact was muted, but the overall effects were potentially much larger, though subject to considerable uncertainty.
Authors
- Michael A. S. Joyce
- Ana Lasaosa
- Ibrahim Stevens
- Matthew Tong
JEL codes
- E43
- E44
- E52
- E58