Central banks face a daunting task: tapering without the tantrum

THE DEBATEQEQEQESP over the effect on markets and the global economy of quantitative easing (), the purchase of bonds with newly created money, is almost akin to a culture war. To its critics unrestrained during the pandemic has covertly financed governments while inflating asset prices and boosting inequality. To its fans is an essential tool in which economists have justified and growing confidence. This high-stakes debate is about to enter a new phase. Rich-world central banks’ balance-sheets will have grown by $11.7trn during 2020-21, projects JPMorgan Chase, a bank (see chart 1). By the end of this year their combined size will be $28trn—about three-quarters of the market capitalisation of the & 500 index of stocks today. But central bankers are about to turn this mega-tanker of stimulus around.