Philly Fed's Plosser Says He Doesn't Know If U.S. Is In Secular Stagnation

Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser on Thursday said he doesn't know whether the U.S. economy has entered a period of so-called secular stagnation, and that in any case, it wouldn't be something to be addressed by monetary policy. Secular stagnation refers to the concept, popularized by former Treasury Sec. Larry Summers, that there's period of low growth and reduced productivity that may last for some time. Plosser says it's very hard to determine the longer-term growth rate of the economy, and it often takes many years of data to establish whether there's a change in trend.