For more than two decades, global fixed income markets have been substantially underpinned by large scale price insensitive demand from central banks, to facilitate mercantilist exchange rate policies. The implications of this have been profound. Lower market volatility, flatter yield curves, and compressed credit spreads have all helped to underpin the valuable role of defensive fixed income in investor portfolios. An ever-present central bank demand backstop also led to relaxed positions on fiscal deficits and mounting debt stocks from serving ...