Of course, these quantitative magnitudes are tentative, and a great deal of additional work will be necessary to better understand and to confirm the nature and magnitudes of the relationships between capital gains on houses and stocks - realized and unrealized - and consumer spending.
More generally, there is concern that the persistence of sizeable fiscal imbalances in Europe and elsewhere may undermine the public’s trust in the sustainability of public finances and entail risks to economic growth and to financial stability.