On September 9th, Hankook Tyre, a tyre maker with an investment-grade rating, issued 45 billion won-worth of three-year bonds at some 40 basis points (hundredths of a percentage point) above the average three-year bond yield in the secondary market.

ECONOMIST: South Korean bonds

However, the model also suggests that, if lower interest rates are to revive the economy, a cut of 2.5 percentage points (the size of the cut until this week) would normally be expected to have lifted share prices by 22% within a year, reduced long-term bond yields by three-quarters of a point, and left the dollar 5% weaker.

ECONOMIST: Is monetary policy less effective these days?