Beware vicious circle of slow growth

Tokyo

GROWTH rates in the global economy are - as lift attendants in department stores say as the elevator descends - "Going down, going down". There is no telling whether the final stop will be reached at ground (zero) level or in the basement of negative growth.

Inflation and interest rates have also been going down for quite a long time, but while those developments have drawn much comment - especially where interest rates have fallen below the "zero bound" - declining economic growth has not received the attention it deserves.