These are all signs of rising affluence, driven by a very prolonged economic expansion. Over 80 per cent of households in the top half of the income distribution have some type of debt, compared with only 30 per cent of those in the lowest decile (Graph 7).
Many experts already think that the euro area is heading towards a “Japanification”, with a prolonged period of low growth and low inflation and with no end in sight to the ultra-loose monetary policy.