Interest rate growth differentials have fluctuated widely in the past. Periods with negative “r-g” have often been followed by periods with positive “r-g”. [16]  It would be imprudent to assume that governments face no intertemporal budget constraints. A credible debt anchor remains an important pillar of a stability-oriented policy framework and central bank independence.
8  Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa (1995), “La sicurezza monetaria e le banche centrali”, talk given at the Centro Alti Studi Difesa in Rome on 9 June 1995, published in the series Banca d’Italia – Documenti, 489, 9. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3