... health of financial institutions and the functioning of financial markets, threaten the “independence” of central banks, and can encourage imprudent behavior on the part of governments. None of ... remainvacantaftertheirpurchase.65OnreturningfromavisittotheUSinthelate1920’s,Hayekforetoldadeepslump.Onbeingtoldthiswasimpossible,becauseUSpriceswereessentialstable,Hayekapparentlyrespondedthatthiswaspreciselytheevidence of anunderlyingproblem.Increasesinproductivityshouldhavebeenpushingpricesdown,butcreditexpansionwasholdingthembackup.66Ineffect,savingswouldproveinadequatetopurchaseall of thegoods and servicesprovidedbytheincreasedinvestmentgeneratedartificiallybycreditreceivedfromthebankingsystem.67AmongtheAME’s,onlyGermany,Switzerland and Japanfailedtoreflectthesedevelopments.Inpart,thiswasbecauseallthreecountrieswerestillrecoveringfromtheirown,earlier,housepricebubbles.68SuchconcernshavebeenexpressedinthevariouscountryreviewsorganizedbytheEconomic and DevelopmentReviewCommittee of theOECD.Australia,NewZealand,Canada,theScandinaviancountries and anumber of othersallseemtobeexposedinthisregard.Federal Reserve Bank ... mostcharacterizedbythiskind of bank behavior.Moreover,theperceivedneedtosupporttheweakcouldalsoleadtohigherinterestchargesforthosestrongenoughtoaffordit.Finally,itmightalsoimplytightercreditconditionsforpotentialnewclientswithnewideasastohowtoadaptdomesticsupplytochangingpatterns of demand and foreigncompetition82.Sinceinnovationisnowseenasaprimarydriver of productivitygrowth (and thuspotential)83,financialconstraints of thissortwouldbeparticularlyworrisome. And thiswouldbeevenmorethecaseincountries(InEurope and Japan)wherebanksremainthedominantsource of finance.The Governor of the Bank of Japan has repeatedly...