Technology has changed, the height of humans has changed, and fashions have changed. Yet the ability of governments and investors to delude themselves, giving rise to periodic bouts of euphoria that usually end in tears, seems to have remained a constant" (Reinhardt and Rogoff 2008b, p. 53).
While fluctuations on financial markets are part of regular market processes, making crises less likely and less costly should be a key goal of economic policy. After the crisis, macroprudential policy has thus become established as a new policy area. A stable financial system fulfils its core macroeconomic functions smoothly and at all times.