Depending on the particular context different public policy issues may end up being critically important. In EU it coud be the nastiness of massive unemployment (close to 12% for several major countries). In USA. A crucial challenge is presented by the absence of any kind of medical insurance or secure coverage for very large numbers of people ( the USA is alone among the rich countries in having this problem, and furthermore, the medically uninsured number more than forty million). In India there is a massive failure of public policy in the extreme neglect of literacy (half the adult population-and two-thirds- of adult women-are still illiterate). In East Asia and Southeast Asia, it looks increasingly as if the financial system requires extensive regularization, and there also seems to be need for a preventive system that can counteract sudden losses of confidence in a country’s currency or investment opportunities (as is brought out by the recent experiences of the countries, which had to seek gigantic bailout operations by the International Monetary Fund). The problems are different and given their complexity each calls for a serious examination of the objectives and instruments of public policy. The need for financial conservatism- important as it is-fits into this diverse and broad picture, and can’t stand on its own-in solitary isolation-as the commitment of the government or of the central bank. The need for scrutiny and comparative assessment of alternative fields of public expenditure is altogether crucial.