Temporal preferences

In other news, Mr. Trichet also demanded that the atmosphere be reduced to combat dangerously high amounts of carbon dioxide...

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet pressed governments to trim their budget deficits, saying such action would boost economic growth by improving confidence of consumers and investors.

“We are in a period where we have to manage budgets very tightly,” Trichet told journalists in Aix-en-Provence, France. “I have no problem with austerity, rigor. I call this good budgetary management.”

The comments reinforce plans set out by Group of 20 leaders last month in Toronto, where the countries representing 85 percent of the world economy responded to plans by European governments to tackle the region’s sovereign debt crisis by slashing budget deficits.