Washington

IN 1933, Sir John Templeton, the renowned fund manager, famously remarked that the investor who says "this time is different" has uttered among the four most costly words in the annals of finance.

He might well have been speaking about modern policymakers and investors, who try to convince themselves that the bubbles in the global economy will have a happier ending than previous ones. They do so despite the numerous good reasons to fear that, if the consequences of today's global bubble are indeed different from 2008, it may be because it is more dangerous.