Indeed, in recent months, there have been fewer reports from industrial purchasing managers that their customers' inventories are too high. BIS Review 4/2002  1  Moreover, the relative stability of industrial commodity prices in recent weeks, and especially the recent firmness in the prices of semiconductors, could be hinting at less intense stock drawdowns.
A homogenous language and culture may facilitate labour mobility, providing one channel for adjustment – although recent evidence suggests this effect is not as significant in the U.S. as previously thought. At the same time, having a large federal budget creates a natural stabiliser as federal spending on “big ticket” items like social security, healthcare and defence redistributes incomes between rich and struggling regions.