The IMF says Larry Summers is right—and Ben Bernanke is wrong—about economic stagnation
Summers has proposed “secular stagnation” (pdf) as the explanation for economic weakness since the 2008 recession: Private investment is falling because firms see slow population growth and innovation as a sign that future returns aren’t likely, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of slow growth. His answer is more government investment—to jump-start demand, and the economy.
.. Bernanke, meanwhile, thinks recent slowdowns in private investment are merely a result of the recession’s economic hangover, and that the big, structural problem for advanced economies is a “global savings glut” that is forcing US interest rates lower than they otherwise would be—so in essence, blame Germany. In the former Fed chair’s view, better government policies on global capital flows and trade could solve this problem. Otherwise, efforts to keep interest rates low enough to maintain full employment will lead to more financial bubbles... The reports conclude, first, that the reason for slower growth isn’t the lingering effects of the crisis but the pressure from slowing population growth and innovation; and second, that private investment is falling because companies don’t see enough demand from their customers, not because of diminished returns from low interest rates.