Paul Krugman asserts that the ECB has responded in a assymetrical way to changes in inflation
And look at the ECB in particular. Twice since the crisis hit it has raised rates at the merest hint of above-target inflation, despite good reason to believe that these were just blips driven by commodity prices. But as inflation slides ever further below target, what we get is equivocation and persistent failure to act. If there’s an asymmetry here, it’s in the opposite direction: hasty action against dubious inflation threats, inaction against deflationary threats.
Actually, since 2009, the ECB has cut interest rates five times, a lot more than the two rate hikes. If the ECB’s actions are “assymmetric”, it is in the pro-inflationary direction, not the anti-inflation direction.
Stefan Karlsson's blogg 