Demand and real incomes have grown steeply, but steadily. Their steady course has instilled a wide sense of security in investors and savers. 20 The European stability culture can be seen as vindicated by the crisis. However, macroeconomic stability has not been a sufficient condition for financial stability. It cannot eliminated systemic risk altogether.
Macroeconomic authorities have therefore been frequently called on to provide remedial action, once booms have turned into busts. The aim of their action has been precisely to avoid the transformation of individual financial risks into systemic risk. Ex post remedial action has often been activated as soon as the financial firestorm has threatened the stability of the economic system.