quantitative easing

noun

finance

: a set of government policies that may be implemented by a central bank to increase the money supply in the economy

The Fed has already done plenty with its unique stimulus program of quantitative easing, or QE, the $85 billion-a-month purchase of bonds and mortgage-backed assets that started pumping cash into the system in 2008.

—Rana Foroohar

Speculation is increasing that in an effort to stimulate the sluggish economy, the central bank will soon announce additional quantitative easing, the strategy of buying long-term assets like Treasury bonds to lower long-term interest rates.

—Christine Hauser

Since 2000, the Bank of Japan has progressively increased the intensity of its quantitative easing programs in response to stagnant growth and failures in its banking system.

—Blaine Luetkemeyer

—abbreviation QE

Examples of quantitative easing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Effects of lower short-term interest rates will require quantitative easing, inverting yield curve as long-term rates fall, inflation spikes and U.S. dollar further plummets as reserve currency. —Phillip Molnar, Mercury News, 29 Aug. 2025

In addition, the Fed engaged in three episodes of quantitative easing (QE). —Nino Paoli, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2025

If anything, the Fed has been guilty of doing too much in recent years, and the consequences of its long deployment of quantitative easing are still becoming evident. —Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025

Monetary policies, including low interest rates and quantitative easing, aimed to support economic recovery but also increased debt levels. —Ivan Illan, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024

Only in January 2015 did recovery begin in earnest, when the ECB started all-out quantitative easing, its program of buying sovereign bonds from its member states on a large scale. —Matthias Matthijs, Foreign Affairs, 17 Jan. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for quantitative easing

• ceasing
• creasing
• greasing
• leasing
• piecing
• decreasing
• degreasing
• increasing
• policing
• releasing
• unceasing
• nondecreasing