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Opinion
John Authers

Will Central Banks Kill or Nurture the Polar Bear?

The sad life of Knut the zoo cub mirrors today’s decisions on rates — is it better to ease pain on the economy and risk more inflation, or to let it die for a greater good (and save institutional reputations)?

An inflation metaphor for our times? Knut the polar bear and caretaker Thomas Doerflein at the Berlin Zoo.

An inflation metaphor for our times? Knut the polar bear and caretaker Thomas Doerflein at the Berlin Zoo.

Photographer: Anita Bugge/WireImage/Getty

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Is the peak in (for inflation)? And is the trough in (for share prices)? And are these questions related? And if so, what should central banks do about it, and how should the rest of us protect ourselves?