But the fact that, eight years into an economic boom, only 37% of Americans claim to support free trade also suggests that economic liberalism would have a harder time surviving trial by recession there than it has in much of the rest of the world.

ECONOMIST: Trial by prosperity

But there is, so far, little to support the fears, advanced by some, that following the stockmarket bubble and investment boom of the late 1990s, America is heading for a Japanese-style deflationary cycle from which, like Japan, it could take years to emerge.

ECONOMIST: That sinking feeling | The