The outlines of today’s pre-Budget report have already been extensively leaked. What remains to be revealed is the precise size and detail of the proposed fiscal “boost”, the Treasury’s latest estimate of the alarmingly large budget deficit to which it will contribute, and the means by which the public finances will be rescued at a later date – after the next election, needless to say.

Given that we are facing – at least in the UK – the worst recession since the war, it might be thought that the bigger the fiscal boost, the better. That would be a serious mistake. The truth is that the smaller the fiscal boost, the better.