Claudio Borio of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about where the pre-crisis consensus on monetary policy-making went wrong; the implementation, effectiveness and costs of ‘unconventional monetary policy-making’ in response to the crisis; the idea that it is no longer ‘better to clean than to lean’; and the research agenda for macroeconomics. The interview, which was recorded in April 2010, represents Claudio Borio’s personal views and does not necessarily reflect those of the BIS.