Old Divisions Threaten Europe’s Economic Response to the Coronavirus by Erik Jones, 6 April 2020

On March 18, the European Central Bank announced that it will buy an additional 750 billion euros’ worth of European corporate and government bonds this year. That means the ECB will spend a total of 1.1 trillion euros on eurozone bonds over the next nine months, the most it has ever spent on assets in so short a period of time. These extraordinary measures, intended to offset the adverse economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, amount to a monetary bazooka that will increase the European money supply (the ECB prints euros to buy bonds) and channel funds indirectly to the governments that issued the bonds, enabling those governments to bail out ailing businesses and provide for unemployed workers.

Link: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/europe/2020-04-06/old-divisions-threaten-europes-economic-response-coronavirus