The advanced economies have grown for seven years straight. The initial response to the global financial crisis, including co-ordinated fiscal stimulus, helped bring the world back from the brink of a second Great Depression. But nowhere is the recovery complete.

The eurozone has an unemployment rate of 10 per cent and per capita gross domestic product below pre-crisis levels. Japan’s per-capita GDP exceeded this benchmark but has since stalled. The US has experienced a stronger recovery but still has more to do to eliminate labour market slack.

Too many policymakers have abandoned expansionary fiscal policy as a tool for supporting growth, placing the burden on monetary policy . For their efforts, central bankers around the world were excoriated by many of the same legislators who to this day are also blocking sufficient fiscal support.