And therein is the even more difficult question of how one defines and determines the business cycle. Implementation involves real-time judgments about when it is allowed to begin drawing down the buffer.
However, as can be seen from the business-cycle dating problem for the Japanese economy, a long period of time is required before the peaks and troughs of the business cycle can be identified. There is also the need to clearly articulate how time lags between national business cycles will be treated.