How will the story of the “global imbalances” end? How should the policy changes needed to avert the worst outcomes be organised? These are the obvious questions raised by my two recent explorations of the global macroeconomic picture (Analysis, ”The paradox of thrift”, June 12 and Capital flows must change course” June 26).

The latest annual report from the Bank for International Settlements provides, as always, an excellent framework for considering the dangers. It explicitly recalls the late 1960s, which started with healthy growth and finished with the inflationary disorder of the 1970s.