This was a one-off effect that is unlikely to be repeated.To sum up, Mr Woo sees QE3 as being ineffective in the sense of driving down real yields or the dollar.
Admittedly, the Government can argue that this is a "one-off" effect which will drop out of the numbers in 2011, but investors are now wondering whether all the dead bodies in the banking system have really been exhumed.
It could be that any perceived benefit from using the EVS may be a one-off effect, due to the novelty of the device.
A one-off event, in other words.
Arminio Fraga, a former hedge-fund manager who is Brazil's new central-bank boss, warned a Senate committee last week that it would have to be "restrictive", so as to stop the one-off effect of devaluation on prices turning into inflation.
Donald Kohn, a Fed veteran and perhaps the governor who is closest to Mr Greenspan, made clear in a speech earlier this month that much of the inflation acceleration in early 2004 was a rebound from "unexplainably low inflation last year" as well as the one-off effect of higher prices for energy and other commodities as well as a weaker dollar.
As Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs points out, the one-off effect of higher input prices alone could boost consumer prices for several more months.
There was little of the fall in labour productivity that normally accompanies a recession, and this was not just a one-off "batting average" effect (in which average productivity rises because the worst performers are fired).
To an extent, the figures reflect one-off effects from pent-up demand and re-stocking.
Once these one-off effects were over, the economy lacked oomph.In this section A spanner in the productivity miracle Last orders Mixed signals Unprofitable policies Insuring Africa Slaves of the state Out of puff Averse to reality Reprints Related items German immigration: Help wantedAug 9th 2001A cold caught from America?
Equally important, it is not clear how much of an effect a one-off rebate will have on consumption, or how quickly that effect will come through.
