Dr. Stephen Kinsella:

As an old-school Keynesian, I completely agree with everything the Deputy has just said. If large-scale infrastructural investment cannot be done now in a place like Germany where the roads are pitted with potholes - if one drives there, one will realise that they really need large-scale infrastructural investment which would do an enormous amount to help - and if we cannot build big airports, etc., now at historically low interest rates, we will never be able to do it. Central banks never want to be the first to do it; their reaction function is incredibly low.

The economists Eric Lonergan and Mark Blythe came up with the suggestion that if we are crediting the bank accounts of commercial banks with reserves and deposits, why do we not just credit people? Why not just have QE for the average person? That would solve the balance sheet problem of the household and create a massive increase in spending. Returning to the triptych I mentioned of politically feasible, administratively possible and technically correct, all three of these things are true, so why does it not happen? It is because it is a new idea. If the problem is that inflation is low, particularly HIPC inflation, giving real people access to money could even be time-dated as Deputy Fleming mentioned. We could stipulate that €500 would appear in an individual's bank account which if not spent within a month would disappear again. It would be an interesting prospect, but central banks do not want to be that innovative.