Geoffrey Berg, the author of a new book that claims definitively to back atheism, held press conferences last week to argue that God cannot exist because the universe is too uncertain for his existence to be tolerated. If that is so, then is it also too uncertain for anyone to decide whether deflation or inflation is the greatest threat to the global economy?

Deflationists say the purchase of bonds by central banks through quantitative easing will fail to revive it, as wage increases continue to soften, eroding consumer confidence along the way.