On a blustery November morning at an airfield outside London, an enormous second-hand car auction is buzzing; demand is so great that average prices have risen 27 per cent over the past year. “The turnround started in January and we haven't looked back since,” says Tim Naylor of British Car Auctions.

The global recovery is now evident across the world. The risk of a double-dip recession remains. In recent weeks, though, the US, eurozone and Japan have all reported that their economies grew again in the third quarter. Some trade-dependent economies are setting new records as they bounce back. Singapore has enjoyed the fastest rise in national income over the past six months since quarterly records began in 1975.

But though the recovery is real, so are the scars from the global recession. Some will be permanent and many will heal only very slowly. From global output on a persistently lower path than expected before the crisis, to severely weakened public finances, to the evils of long-term unemployment, to rising inequality and to a permanently altered balance of global economic power, the effects of the 2008-09 financial crisis and recession are akin to those of a war.