Konrad Adenauer, Germany’s first chancellor after World War II, famously said: “Why should I care about the things I said yesterday?” What he meant was that events can sometimes unfold at a speed that outpaces our ability to understand them. So, as 2014 winds down, it is worth asking ourselves, with the benefit of hindsight: Have we at the European Central Bank reacted swiftly enough to maintain price stability in the face of threats, as our mandate requires? I think the answer is yes. We noticed that our monetary policy was no longer having the effect on private borrowing costs to which we were accustomed. It was ... (full story)