Because they cut the deficits and they grew much faster in both cases, they saw the results of running a decent economic policy. Can you rely on that? Not really, it depends on each country. Q: What do you see as your responsibility when house prices, or property prices, get out of kilter?
A: We have to do what we can to prevent that happening. The main problem for a central bank is that it operates on the financing side, which is to say on the demand side of the housing market.