But there is no universal prescription: each central bank must weigh the local risks that inflation will persist against the threat of deflation from overhanging debt and fragile Banks.

But Mr Schorr sees the potential cost of settling with private investors as the biggest risk overhanging the bank from its past.

We flushed a covey of quail under a high clay bank with overhanging brush and I killed two as they went out of sight over the top of the bank.