The why factor

One of the things emerging from the shocks that have been delivered to our financial system is a con...

One of the things emerging from the shocks that have been delivered to our financial system is a consensus that "things must change". We have in recent weeks received Lord Turner's analysis of the cause of the crisis along with some views on what reforms may be required to the system to prevent a repetition. I suspect that we are seeing the start of a change in personal behaviour too. Consumer confidence has taken a bit of a hammering over the past 18 months or so. The seemingly inexorable rise in house prices has juddered to a halt and, for most householders anyway, gone into a decline. In...