The world’s main central banks have lived up to their reputations. The US Fed is throwing everything it has into its attempts to stimulate the US economy. The Bank of England is following a policy of stately and gradual relaxation, restated in Thursday’s interest rate announcement. The European Central Bank is staying put and stresses the inflation threat.

The obvious explanation for these discrepancies lies in the economies for which these authorities are responsible. The US is almost certainly already in recession, even though it may take the authoritative National Bureau of Economic Research several more months to declare this fact. The UK economy was still growing at only slightly below trend rates in the first quarter, even though the shakeout in house prices has put the fear of God into the headline writers. The eurozone is still performing relatively well, but the inflation rate has crept up to 3½ per cent compared with a target of just under 2 per cent. A minor benefit from these discrepancies is a respite from lectures on the superiority of the Anglo-American model.