Since the 2008-09 crisis, central banks worldwide have bought about $16 trillion of financial assets, putting about $16 trillion of liquidity into financial markets.

Measure the cumulative increase in central bank holdings of financial assets from QE and balance-sheet expansion, from 2008 to late 2018. At minimum this covers the Fed, ECB, BoJ and BoE, with others included where data allow. 'About $16 trillion' is a rough figure. True: credible estimates fall between about $13.5 trillion and $18.5 trillion. Mostly true: $12–13.5 trillion or $18.5–20 trillion, or the figure fits total central bank balance sheets rather than purchases specifically. Mixed: $10–12 trillion or $20–23 trillion. Mostly false: the figure only fits a different measure, such as total balance-sheet size including pre-crisis holdings, while actual purchases were well below $10 trillion. False: estimates of post-2008 purchases are far from $16 trillion (below $8 trillion or above $25 trillion).

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Quantitative Easing and Exuberance in Stock Markets: Evidence from the euro area (DNB Working Paper No. 660) De Nederlandsche Bank · December 2019

   “As a result, the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England bought over $13 trillion worth of financial assets over the past decade, representing between 18 and 102% of their respective total GDP.”

2. E2 Large-Scale Asset Purchases Federal Reserve Bank of New York

   “March 18, 2009 | The FOMC announces an expansion of its asset purchase program, saying it will purchase a total of up to $1.25 trillion of agency MBS (an additional $750 billion) and up to $200 billion of agency debt”

3. E3 Large-Scale Asset Purchases Federal Reserve Bank of New York

   “June 22, 2011 | The FOMC announces it will complete purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the month and directs the Desk to continue reinvesting principal payments on all domestic securities in longer-term Treasury securities to maintain the size of the Federal Reserve’s portfolio at approximately $2.6 trillion.”

E1 is a De Nederlandsche Bank working paper, independent of Dalio. It estimates that the Fed, ECB, Bank of Japan and Bank of England together bought "over $13 trillion" of financial assets in the decade after the crisis. That puts the four main central banks at the boundary between the "true" range (about $13.5–18.5 trillion) and the "mostly true" range ($12–13.5 trillion). Purchases by other central banks, which the criteria allow, would probably push the total higher, but none of the evidence measures them. E2 and E3 give only the Fed's announced purchase caps and portfolio targets, not cumulative totals, so they don't settle the figure. Because the one independent estimate supports a figure near the lower end of "about $16 trillion", the claim resolves mostly true.