In an economy that needs money to run as much as a factory needs oil, Quantitative Easing seems to be the key when difficulties arise. As former FED Chairman B. Bernanke claims “credit can build an economy but lack of credit can ruin it”, therefore, after 2001, when the terrorist attack of September 11th changed the way we see international political economy and the Great Recession of 2008 changed how we view globalized shocks, the money supply was able to help minimize the impact of these two tremendous economic disturbances (2011). This article will focus on the quantitative easing policy in the United States and the European Union, and the effects of QE on both of them and a comparison of their impact. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayQuantitative easingQuantitative easing is a method used by central banks to increase the supply of money in the economy. This phenomenon occurs when purchasing securities such as government bonds. This method serves the belief that commercial banks will use the amount of money now deposited in their accounts to purchase new assets that they will bring in. to a greater demand for shares and bonds, therefore an increase in the price of shares and bonds which will cause a decrease in interest rates and consequently help to generate more investments (ECB, 2018). Quantitative easing in the USA At the beginning of the crisis in In 2007 the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) took some liquidity actions to extend term loans to banks and lower the federal funds rate by 50 basis points, followed by a decrease by 325 basis points (FED, 2007). In 2008 the committee further increased the money supply by lowering interest rates and then reduced its target to the lower bound where it remains today (FED, 2008). Furthermore, in 2008 and early 2009 the FED took steps to liquidate American commercial banks which would indirectly increase the money supply through the lending process (FED,2009). In 2010 and 2011 the economy was slowly recovering, however a process of quantitative easing remained in place and in 2012, thanks to the monetary policy mentioned above, GDP grew steadily as the target for the Federal Fund rate it was set at 0%-0.25% ( FED, 2011). Chairman B. Bernanke argued that to achieve the two most important objectives, those of full employment and price stability, an expansionary monetary policy was necessary (Fed, 2012). 2013 was B. Bernanke's last year as FED Chairman and QE remained in place to allow the country to fully recover (FED, 2013). In 2014, the new chairwoman Janet Yellen continued the FOMC's policy of asset purchases and forward guidance in order to achieve the FED's dual objective (FED, 2014). In 2015-2016, even though the country was no longer facing the effects of a recession, it maintained the monetary policies mentioned above in order to keep inflation at 2% and lower the level of unemployment (FED, 2016). In 2017 the FOMC increased the target range for the federal funds rate to 0.5%-0.75% and plans to increase the target gradually and until a “neutral federal funds rate” (FED, 2017). The quantitative easing program in the EU began in 2014 with the “Asset-Backed Securities and Covered Bond Purchase Programmes” provided by the ECB (Claeys et al., 2015). Furthermore, in 2015 the QE program was expanded with the implementation of., 2017).