Starting with his first annual report, Duisenberg has always maintained that DNB would not support an expansionary budgetary policy that would result in unsustainable deficits. A view like that was not at all obvious in the 1970s and 80s. Between the second world war and the 1970s, Dutch economic policy had been of a Keynesian nature, with scope for activist, counter-cyclical budgetary stimulus.
In regard to growth of GDP in per capita terms also, India's performance during the period is among the top ten.