Bollard has confirmed he won't stand for another term when the current one ends in September. Almost everyone in a position of great power ends up with a mixed record, and Bollard is no exception.

Bollard took over from Brash just as rapid growth in house prices was starting. For the first couple of years, there was good reason to believe this was just compensating for several preceding years of weak house price growth. By 2004, however, there was reason to ask whether the housing market was becoming a bubble. Bollard started hiking the cash rate, though he denied it was because of housing.

While house price growth slowed from its absurd 2003 peak, it remained in double-digits. On the other hand, exporters were beginning to suffer from tight money. Bollard left the cash rate at 7.25% for all of 2006. It's easy to say in retrospect this was the wrong call: that he should have kept hiking rates and intervened directly in the currency market. But at the time the discussion was more about when rates would fall than whether they would rise again. The fact is that his stated job was to control overall inflation, and while he saw there were imbalances that would require adjustment, it wasn't his brief.

In 2007, however, the coming adjustment was staring us in the face. Bollard resumed rate hikes and sold NZD, finally taking the heat out housing. He did this in the face of substantial opposition from business leaders and unions, as well as National. Cullen was worried, even proposing a mortgage levy (which Clark shot down), but fiscal policy became increasingly stimulative. This was arguably Bollard's shining moment, and almost certainly softened the impact of the financial crisis. It would have been even better had he brought the hammer down on the banks, but this would have required remarkable foresight. As 2008 began and the prospect of an international recession became strong, Bollard continued to be hawkish.

(to be continued)