The need for fiscal policies to remain expansionary combined with public protests against wealth inequality would pose a problem for central banks

If the health crisis persists, fiscal policies in OECD countries will have to remain highly expansionary for a long time (2021, 2022, and so on ). This would spur central banks to keep monetary policies highly expansionary also to prevent long-term interest rates from rising, thus facilitating the financing of fiscal deficits. But expansionary monetary policies lead to asset price bubbles, rising wealth inequality and a decoupling between the real economy and asset prices (financial and real estate). Central banks could then be caught between two objectives: making continued expansionary fiscal policies possible; responding to public demands to stem the ris e in wealth inequality and excessive asset price growth.