We should also not forget influences on the supply side. Banks and other providers of credit to households have been competing vigorously to expand or protect their market share. In the process, lending standards have been progressively eroded so that lenders are now engaging in practices that would have been regarded as out of the question five or ten years ago.
These are matters in which prudential regulators are taking a strong interest. While the growth of household borrowing has been relatively high throughout the current expansion, business borrowing on average has been more restrained.