Consumers may also value the perceived stability of bigger institutions.

ECONOMIST: Lenders in America and Britain retrench, but for how long?

Foreign governments, which supported Mr Abdallahi's government as a bulwark of stability against the perceived threat of Islamist extremists in the Sahel, the swathe of Africa just to the south of the Sahara desert, reacted angrily.

ECONOMIST: Mauritania

Instead, the stability of Mr Dzurinda's government must depend mainly on the perceived success of its pro-European policy.

ECONOMIST: Mikulas Dzurinda, Slovakia��s turn for the better