This despite a reduction in debt servicing costs resulting from the adoption of the euro in conjunction with the benefits of the so-called Great Moderation period;    An increasing level of household indebtedness, which rose from less than 80% of disposable income in 1999 to more than 120% in 2008, reflecting easier access to consumer and mortgage credit, in terms of both volume and cost;    A rising level of external indebtedness, resulting from recurrent external deficits, as a reflection of the expansion of domestic, public and private demand, and a deterioration in the net international investment position, which shifted from –39.6% in 2000 to –108.5% in 2010.
When asked about future inflation, women place a greater focus on perceived food price inflation than men, who care more about the price developments of transportation  2/3  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  and housing.5 While central bankers -are generally aware of this "gender expectations gap", ECB staff – in a recent blog – pointed to a need to gain a better understanding of how consumers form and update their inflation expectations.