David Jane: Cracks in the new orthodoxy

Have economic cycles fundamentally changed?

After a decade of unbroken economic growth - at least in the world's strongest economy, the US - one starts to speculate on whether something has fundamentally changed in the nature of economic cycles, writes David Jane, manager of Miton's multi-asset fund range.

It is always dangerous to think 'this time it's different' but it is equally dangerous to ignore structural change and constantly live in the past. In the era since the great financial crisis, policymakers have used a wide range of new monetary tools, all with the explicit or implicit goal of manipulating asset prices and avoiding credit and investment cycles. Prior to this, the economy was prone to a regular series of boom and bust, driven by excessive investment and borrowing, which ultimately unwound as markets moved between fear and greed. Miton's Jane: Are growth stocks overvalue...