US, Japan offer lessons as Eurozone launches huge stimulus

So will quantitative easing, or QE, rescue Europe’s economy? Unlikely, says Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London.

“The problem is that the ECB has waited relatively long before it’s considering this relatively bold step. And part of QE is changing people’s expectation for the better. And expectations in the eurozone have deteriorated quite a bit," said Odendahl.

The United States’ QE program offers other lessons, said Odendahl.

“One is it works best if you are bold right from the start. That is the kind of announcement effect, the shock-and-awe effect, that markets truly believe that now a change is coming," he said...

...“If your central bank is buying up the assets of various member states, then all of a sudden Germany, in particular — they've got the biggest economy in the eurozone — could be liable if those states don't pay back the central bank," he said.