This year will be remembered as a time when, in response to a crisis brewed in the private sector, states around the world demonstrated their awesome economic firepower. Thanks to public policy, the global economy has stabilised. Growth is returning. But, even so, it is too early to declare victory over the recession.

It emerged this week that the US economy grew at an annualised rate of 3.5 per cent in the third quarter. Output had already increased elsewhere among the rich nations: France, Germany and Japan restarted economic expansion in the second quarter.