# The ECB's Not-So-Sweet 16th

1 Opinion January 13, 2015 The Huffington Post ![Kim Schoenholtz](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_033448.jpg?itok=-Wg03fdj) By Kim Schoenholtz and Stephen Cecchetti > The risk of sustained deflation amid continued economic weakness makes for a very anxious birthday.

Sixteenth birthdays can be momentous occasions. A coming of age of sorts. Well, New Year's Day 2015 the European Central Bank turned 16. It is a momentous birthday, but not all that sweet.

To be sure, there is notable good news. The new headquarters in Frankfurt recently opened. Lithuania has entered the euro area. The frequency of ECB monetary policy meetings is about to decline. And there will soon be timely publication of minutes of these meetings.

But the risk of sustained deflation amid continued economic weakness makes for a very anxious birthday. Accordingly, policymakers already have signaled plans to initiate the kind of quantitative easing – large-scale purchases of government debt – that have become common practice in Britain, Japan, and the United States. In the euro area, however, these purchases are even more controversial because there exists no euro-area government debt free of default risk.

Read full article as published in [The Huffington Post](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kermit-schoenholtz/the-ecbs-notsosweet-16th_b_6455386.html)

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*Kim Schoenholtz is a Professor of Management Practice and Director of the Center for Global Economy and Business.*## More Opinions from Kim Schoenholtz

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