Speaking at the Society of Business Economists Annual conference, Ben Broadbent, Deputy Governor for Monetary policy, discusses how to interpret the downward trend in interest rates over the past twenty years. His main focus is to consider two frequently made claims by economic commentators: (1) interest rates are low because central bankers have chosen to keep policy rates low. (2) This has pushed up the price of risky assets, benefitting only those who happen already to own them. Ben argues that neither of these claims is true. He argues that ‘despite a decline in interest rates that’s now gone on for 20 years, ... (full story)