Central bankers have different ideas. Where they once liked to consider themselves technocratic, they now think of themselves as rather more nuanced — able to "look through" inflation rather than being wedded to metric-driven interest rate rises.

And where they once figured that they had just the one job, they now seem to feel the world needs their input on pretty much everything. Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King recently complained about central banks "moving into the political arena", and with good reason. Data from the Bank for International Settlements show that references to "inequality" have risen sharply in central banker speeches, while the chief executive of the Reserve Bank of Atlanta (among others) called for central banks to "play an important role in helping to reduce racial inequities and bring about a more inclusive economy".

You can also be sure that climate change will get a mention within the first few minutes of every speech at the central bankers' (now virtual) meeting at Jackson Hole. At first glance this might seem to make perfect sense. The European Central Bank's Christine Lagarde explains it in terms of the fable of the mice, the cat and the bell: all the mice agree that life would be better for all if the cat wore a bell — but no one wants to be the one who actually creeps up and attaches the bell.