What happens if more of the extra money is invested in risk-free assets than in risky assets?
Central bank policy increasingly consists in rapidly expanding the quantity of money by purchasing a growing quantity of bonds. This triggers a portfolio rebalancing mechanism: economic agents use the extra money to buy other assets and, at equilibrium, rebalance the weights of the various asset classes in their portfolios via an increase in the prices of these assets. But two configurations are possible : One of high risk aversion, where economic agents primarily buy risk-free assets, which drives down risk-free interest rates and drives up risk premia; One of low risk aversion, where economic agents primarily buy risky assets, which drives down risk premia. The subprime crisis was followed by the first configuration of high risk aversion.