Professor Alan Ahearne:

At the time I just did not know. I did not have any details. I was concerned that some of the practices I had seen before, particularly in the Japanese case, that that may have been going on, and therefore distorting the picture, giving a much more rosy picture. If the banks were doing that, and I do not know if they were or not, they may say that was proper practice. After all, if one thought that this was going to be a temporary downturn one may try to evergreen one's developments.