As central bankers gather for their annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, they're facing a question that could radically change how they do their jobs: Has the developed world entered a sort of economic doldrums, in which stimulus efforts are more likely to lead to financial disaster than to healthy growth? The idea, known as secular stagnation and most notably put forth by Harvard economist Lawrence Summers, is a troubling one. It suggests that various factors -- such as inequality, shrinking labor-force participation and decelerating productivity -- have gotten the economy stuck on a low-growth path. Unless the ... (full story)