They suggest that it is possible to develop warnings of nascent crises at an early stage. They imply that policy-makers could design and implement policies that contain or avoid such crises. Yet these hopes should not give rise to complacency, still less to the belief that by tweaking our policy framework we can condemn financial crises to the past.
While sharing commonalities, each financial crisis is also unique: what triggers the crisis, how it is propagated through the financial system, and which sectors are most affected are specific to each episode. Such considerations bring me to the second theme of my remarks: the need for a flexible and innovative approach to crisis management.