The extension of income support programmes attenuated the immediate costs of the crisis. The increase in the budget deficit was smaller than in the other main advanced economies, thanks in part to the solidity of the banking system, which did not need significant public support. In the other G7 economies this amounted to 3.8 per cent of GDP on average.
Most notably, attention has focused on equity prices, the personal saving rate, the current account deficit, and debt burdens. The unifying theme among this class of imbalances is that they typically arise during an expansion, often as the result of changing attitudes toward the perceived risk in the economy or as a result of increased willingness to accept risk.