in the economy and how the policy is applied. • fifth, lower spreads and interest rates may reflect weaker demand as opposed to an easing in credit conditions. attempting to draw definite conclusions is therefore risky. it is also important to remember that each country's economic and institutional circumstances are different and may require a different approach to unconventional monetary policy easing. no single formula will suit all cases. this is reflected in the different strategies recently adopted by a number of countries. switzerland, for example, lacks deep markets in government and private - sector securities, and has decided to conduct quantitative easing via unsterilized intervention in the foreign exchange market. japan's financial markets have not been as seriously affected as those in many other advanced countries, but its banks have needed significant support, so most of japan's unconventional efforts in the past year have been focused on banks. 6 the united kingdom has concentrated most of its quantitative easing in the market for government bonds or gilts, since commercial paper and corporate bond issuance are not as significant. the focus in the united states is quite different again. greater emphasis has been put on quantitative easing using private sector assets. canada has not been subject to many of the imbalances and vulnerabilities that have affected other countries, and has had less need for unconventional measures. the bank of canada has not engaged in credit or quantitative easing, but has made a conditional commitment regarding the future path of the target interest rate. at the bank of canada's last fixed announcement date we lowered the target overnight rate to 25 basis points – consistent with our estimate of the effective lower bound – and committed to keep the rate there until the end of the second quarter of 2010, conditional on the inflation outlook. this conditional commitment was buttressed by a decision to offer term purchase and resale agreements out to a one - year maturity, with set maximum and minimum bid rates. 7 so, how have all of these diverse actions fared? here is a brief and tentative summary of how the unconventional measures adopted by canada and other industrial countries have performed so far. although japan's financial system was relatively unaffected by the global turmoil, last fall conditions in its commercial paper and corporate bond markets tightened sharply. in that context, the bank of japan began to buy commercial paper and corporate bonds to support corporate financing. we also announced that, in our best judgment, these actions and the easing that they implied would be sufficient to return the real economy to equilibrium and inflation to its 2 per cent

' speeches line with the target. the third option is price - level targeting, including its various offshoots, such as nominal gdp targeting and temporary price - level targeting. in such a regime, the central bank commits to keep the price level near a steadily growing target path. like average - inflation targeting, this strategy promises to overshoot the target inflation rate in “ good ” times to make up for the inflation undershoot when policy is constrained. in theory, both average - inflation and price - level targeting can solve the problem of anchoring inflation expectations at the target rate while maintaining a low inflation target rate amid low neutral rates. although price - level targeting is a bigger leap from inflation targeting than averageinflation targeting, each can be implemented in ways that are very similar to standard inflation targeting, either in terms of forecast - targeting or a policy rule. 6 importantly, neither will likely be effective in practice unless communicated clearly and carried out consistently over time. more broadly, all of these proposed strategies face potential costs and benefits — in terms of macroeconomic performance, communication, and robustness to uncertainty — which require careful study. in considering alternative monetary policy strategies, academic experts, policymakers, and others from around the world have an important part to play, sharing and discussing ideas and comparing experiences to help all of us to think through these issues. this process of careful study and discussion proved highly valuable during the development and implementation of inflation targeting in decades past, and will be equally valuable in the present debates. thank you. 1 see federal reserve to review strategies, tools, and communication practices it uses to pursue its mandate of maximum employment and price stability, november 15, 2018. 2 shigeaki fujiwara, yuto iwasaki, ichiro muto, kenji nishizaki, and nao sudo, developments in the natural rate of interest in japan, bank of japan review 2016 - e - 12 ( october 2016 ) ; kathryn holston, thomas laubach, and john c. williams, measuring the natural rate of interest : international trends and determinants, journal of international economics, volume 108, supplement 1, pp. s59 – s75 ( may 2017 ) ; thomas laubach and john c. williams, measuring the natural rate of interest redux, business economics, volume 51, issue 2, pp. 57 – 67 ( july 2016 ) ; john c. williams, monetary policy in a low r - star world, frbsf economic letter 2016