The key to tackling the problem identified by Adair Turner – the weakness of global nominal demand – is therefore expenditure, specifically, public expenditure that can be undertaken quickly: on the upkeep of roads and railways, on flood defences, on water conservation, on horticulture, and so on.

Of course, public expenditure has to be financed. The most prudent form of financing is loan issuance, not ‘deficit spending’ which implies permanent government overdrafts. Loan issuance, arranged by the government’s debt management office in concert with the central bank and fixed at low rates supported by central bank action, can finance ongoing government expenditure. Thanks to the multiplier, that expenditure on employment will quickly generate returns to the public treasury in the form of tax revenues for repayment of loans.