Jonathan Davis has been a senior adviser and investment director
at Smith & Williamson Investment Management since March 2012. A
former journalist on The Times and Economist, he is a regular
columnist for the Financial Times and author of several investment
books.
Financial repression does not sound very pleasant. What does it
mean?
It is an ugly phrase to describe a disagreeable state of
affairs, one which unfortunately many investors are experiencing at
the moment. It refers to a deliberate attempt by financial
policymakers to hold down interest rates below the rate of
inflation in an attempt to force people to change their savings and
spending habits. The phrase was popularised by the American
academic Carmen Reinhart, the author (with Kenneth Rogoff) of a
bestselling recent book on the history of financial crises and
their aftermath.
