What happens when private demand for bonds is structurally weak?
Real long-term interest rates are going to long remain negative and, moreover, extremely variable , d ue to the higher level of inflation and above all the high variability of inflation, both of which under the effect of the energy transition, and due to structurally expansionary monetary policies. These two characteristics of real long-term interest rates can be expected to strongly deter private demand for bonds. As a result: Central banks will be impelled to continue to hold huge bond portfolios; Financial repression will be increasingly necessary for investors to keep bond portfolios; Demand for assets other than bonds (equities, real estate, other real assets) will be structurally strong and the prices of these assets will be high, although also with high variability.