One’s first look at Guernica is chaotic, dizzying, viscerally frightening, hard to comprehend. But after looking about it, thinking about it, living with one’s memory of the images for some time (in my case, I still think I’m understanding new things about it after 50 years), we start to see the story told by the bits and pieces.
Monetary policy’s main contribution over the long run is to provide a stable monetary standard. That is a necessary condition for strong growth but it is not a sufficient one. Nor will fiscal expansion serve as more than a temporary boost to growth. Indeed the limits to fiscal activism are surely all too clear in many countries now.