Desperately seeking Goldilocks in emerging markets

In the 1990s a new metaphor was devised to describe the global economy: the Goldilocks economy, meaning one that, like Goldilocks’s porridge, was neither too hot nor too cold, with growth chugging along and inflation kept in check.

For policymakers it was the perfect outcome in which they had little to do except to keep an eye on the latest numbers. Some heralded the Goldilocks economy as a new paradigm. Like most new paradigms it proved to be a busted flush but policymakers in emerging markets must now wish that they were overseeing Goldilocks-type economies.