For example, in early 2010, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the output gap in 2009:Q2 was negative 7.7 percent, but the CBO has since lowered it to negative 6.3 percent--a large revision with important implications for assessments of the deviation of actual policy from the prescriptions of simple policy rules.
With any new financial product or service that is introduced to the marketplace, we have a responsibility to ensure that the potential risks are clearly identified and measures to mitigate those risks put in place. Financial consumers should not be the ‘laboratory mouse’.