The words on everyone's lips: Structural reform

This is a time of lots of credit, but little return; lots of cheap goods, but shrinking global trade; lots of scary news and shaken confidence; and lots of talking about the economy, but not much actual growth.

It is the "new mediocre", as it was dubbed by some at the G20 conference for central bankers and finance ministers in Shanghai over the weekend.

It has been eight years since the 2008 global financial crisis. Central bankers seem to have exhausted their weapons, including unconventional policies such as quantitative easing, but the world economy is still in the doldrums. Interest rates are in negative territory in some countries. Structural reform, as it were, is the last card to play.