For monetary policy makers, on the other hand, the main task is to keep from getting carried away by superficial debates before that information becomes available. It is hard to deny that right now, ideology counts for more than objective science in the debate.
Protectionist and “beggar-thy-neighbour” policies would have certainly aggravated the crisis, as they notoriously did in the 1930s, and yet somehow it could have been expected in such dire circumstances and given the political difficulties associated to them. A good system is one where these self-defeating pressures could be resisted. How has the global system fared in this regard?