(FINANCIAL TIMES) - From the start of the coronavirus pandemic, many emerging nations watched the United States and other large developed countries "go big" on economic stimulus, and wished they could afford to follow. It turns out they were lucky if they couldn't and wise if they chose not to.

Emerging markets that stimulated most aggressively received no pay-off in a faster recovery, owing in part to the downsides of overindulging. The big spenders tended to suffer higher inflation, higher interest rates and currency depreciation, at least partly cancelling out the sugar high of stimulus.