As Mark Carney, the new governor of the Bank of England, sits down for the first time with his colleagues and staff, he will not want for unsolicited advice from around the world. As central-bank balance sheets continue to explode and economic growth languishes, many distinguished economists are expressing concern about the global wave of asset-buying by monetary authorities.

Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, recently warned of the risk that central banks are stoking “speculative distortions and?.?.?.?inflationary potential”. Raghuram Rajan, the Chicago economist and chief economic adviser to the government of India, channelled Winston Churchill: “Never in the field of economic policy has so much been spent, with so little evidence, by so few.”

By their own accounts, central bankers have become worried about these policies, which they say were undertaken because they were the only game in town. Sir Mervyn King, who is now leaving town, has said: “There is an understandable yearning for a return to normality.” Six of Mr Carney’s new colleagues on the Monetary Policy Committee – a majority – have voted against further large-scale asset purchases or quantitative easing.