*  *  Introduction  When I accepted your kind invitation to address the Annual Dinner of the Society of Business Economists – for which I thank you – I knew I would be coming to the City of London at a time when the general economic sentiment, especially in the financial markets and the banking sector, might be matching the weather conditions: not exactly sunny and occasionally frosty.
I also knew that I would be speaking to members of your Society at a very challenging time for economists.