In the speech 'Supply side economics and monetary policy' given on 22 June Jean-Claude Trichet of the ECB said on the basis of decades of economic research and central banking practice a widespread consensus view has by now consolidated on what monetary policy can and cannot do to foster long-term economic growth. Changes in money supply eventually engineered by the central bank will, in the long run, only have a permanent effect on the general price level, not on economic growth.

However, this