Currently, we have only a limited understanding of how central bank purchases of illiquid assets (“quantitative easing”) affect long-term interest rates, borrowing costs, and the real economy. Since the historical record of quantitative easing is sparse, theoretical work is needed to guide...

Economists often say that certain types of assets, e.g., Treasury bonds, are very "liquid". Do they mean that these assets are likely to serve as media of exchange or collateral (a definition of liquidity often employed in monetary theory), or that they can be easily sold in a secondary market,...