A widely discussed criticism of the Federal Reserve is that the central bank was asleep at the switch last year, when it waited too long to begin tightening monetary policy to nip emerging inflation in the bud. The critique implies that adopting a more hawkish policy earlier would have spared the US from the high inflation that now stalks the economy. But a review of other central banks that followed that script suggests otherwise.

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US debt ceiling in focus as Republicans looks set to take over the House. “If Republicans win the House and Democrats retain the Senate, we envision an emboldened GOP calling for spending cuts as a pre-condition for agreement to raising the debt ceiling,” say Anna Wong and Andrew Husby of Bloomberg Economics. “Brinkmanship on that debate could see borrowing costs rise, tipping the economy from a short and mild recession next year into something more damaging.”