The general point here is that there is a recalibration going on regarding what is considered normal. Having consumption, credit and asset prices grow broadly in line with incomes should probably be viewed as usual, typical or expected. So too should the rate of increase in our living standards being determined by productivity growth.
conventions in government bonds and T-bills markets concerning settlement date, definition of business days and day count basis, coupon frequency and coupon calculation methods are almost completely harmonized across euro area countries today (see slide 7  1  See "Yield Differentials in the Future EMU", Monetary Review, May 1997, Danmarks Nationalbank, for a pre-1999 analysis of expected EMU spreads based on evidence from Canadian provinces.