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And if Piketty is right, inequality trends are self-perpetuating as wealth begets wealth. Economic and financial stability That naturally begs the question of whether anything should be done. On the face of it, this is not the business of a central banker. There is considerable truth in that. The tools at the disposal of a central bank – interest rates, the money supply, regulation – have an impact on inequality which is, at best, indirect, inadvertent and transient. Central banks can do nothing, durably, to reshape long-term structural trends in the economy, much less in broader society. Yet inequality has appeared on central banks’ radar during the course of the crisis, sometimes flashing red. That is because, at least over the shorter-term, central bank policies can and probably have reshaped patterns of inequality. Some have gone further, arguing that central bank policies of extra-ordinary monetary accommodation have, by boosting asset prices and wealth, exacerbated inequalities (Saiki and Frost (2014)). In effect, central banks stand accused of having provided an extra spin to the Piketty cycle. It is worth viewing this claim in context. In response to the Great Recession, monetary policy globally went into overdrive. Interest rates fell to the floor and central bank money supply rose to the ceiling – so-called quantitative easing or QE. Interest rates have never been so low, nor central bank money supply so high (relative to money spending), in the Bank of England’s 320-year history. Extraordinary times heralded truly extraordinary measures.