Economists at the New York Federal Reserve write: Euro area inflation expectations have been falling at both short- and long-term horizons, with the latter development suggesting the current low inflation environment is perceived as likely to persist. Because long-term inflation expectations play a key role in the decisions of households and firms, economists have stressed the importance of long-term inflation expectations being anchored at a central bank’s target. In this post, we use survey data on inflation forecasts to document evidence of recent “unanchoring” of euro area long-term inflation expectations, and note the difference in comparison to the 2008-09 period, when current inflation and short-term inflation expectations also declined but long-term inflation expectations remained steady.  EU Inflation