History will judge the G20 leaders by a cruder criterion. Are these people, who between them run around 90% of the world economy, doing what it takes to combat the worst global recession in 80 years

　　Faced with this cataclysm, policymakers have been fighting back with the biggest and most synchronized macroeconomic stimulus since the second world war.

　　Two questions spring to the fore. Are these responses, however extraordinary, adequate？ And if in doubt, should prudent policymakers err towards doing too much or too little？ At a global level, the answer is surely that boldness beats timidity. For individual countries, however, the calculus is often different, particularly on fiscal policy. What is needed, therefore, is a calibrated boldness. America’s stimulus package is appropriate to its fiscal position and economic outlook. Countries with scope for more stimulus—especially Germany—should use it. Laggards in other areas must step up as well: America’s plan to clean up its banks, for instance, is still inadequate. It is important too that governments do not just spend today but have credible, explicit plans for scaling back tomorrow. Perhaps most important, calibrated boldness implies not that one solution fits all, but that different countries should do different things, for the common good as well as their own. It is a state of mind—one that the G20 leaders must maintain long after this week’s meeting.