As on a battlefield, so in the marketplace — a war to defend the economy is not won by the deployment of superior armoury but by the cleverness and credibility of one’s strategy and tactics. In a crisis, economic policymakers are like generals in war time. Their reputation is won not by the superiority of the firepower at their disposal, but by their display of wisdom and cunning and, above all, their credibility among their own troops, and not just the enemy.