We learnt that price stability and macroeconomic stability do not guarantee financial stability; financial stability has to be guarded as an explicit variable. We learnt that signs of financial instability are difficult to detect in real time and that pressure can build up in the system for much longer than we think possible before an eventual implosion takes place.
What has been the global response? The post crisis reforms effort has accordingly focussed on three questions: (i) How do we define financial instability? (ii) What are the policy instruments for safeguarding financial stability? (iii) What should be the institutional arguments for safeguarding financial stability? There are no definitive answers to any of these questions; they are still being debated.