samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
To do so would be a violation of the Treaties. Article 11 of the TFEU provides that environmental protection requirements must be “integrated into the definition and implementation of the Union's policies and activities”. This imposes an obligation on the ECB to take into account and consider the objectives of the  Climate Law when performing its tasks. In addition, Article 11 could be understood as supporting measures which incorporate environmental considerations as secondary aims. This means the ECB could rely on Article 11 to support the climate neutrality dimension of measures falling within its monetary policy or supervisory competences. But it does not go so far as to establish an autonomous competence to adopt environmental measures. In addition, under Article 7 of the TFEU, the activities and policies of the ECB need to be consistent with Union law and therefore also with the Climate Law. We have diligently assessed how these provisions of the Treaty, together with the Climate Law, affect our tasks, always being guided by and staying within our mandate. The ECB is not an environmental policy institution. The ECB is a central bank and banking supervisor. As such, let me share with you what we have done to reflect these legal requirements in the common fight against the climate crisis within our mandate. First of all, when defining and implementing monetary policy, we need to take into account environmental protection requirements, such as the climate-neutrality objectives contained in the Climate Law. And that is what we have done.

However, beyond these basic principles, what is the appropriate monetary policy stance for achieving both financial stability and the dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability? With inflation running well below our 2 percent longer-run target and the unemployment rate still well above its normal long-term level, appropriate monetary policy dictates that low real interest rates should prevail until the economy is further along a sustainable path to its potential level and inflation is closer to target. Nonetheless, it is common to hear the  1  Because of some differences in product coverage and statistical methodologies, total CPI inflation tends to average 1/4 to 1/2 percentage points higher than total PCE inflation. Hence, the FOMC’s 2 percent target on total PCE inflation would translate to a 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent target for total CPI inflation. 2  I recently discussed the costs of too-low inflation and the implications of having a 2 percent inflation target in a January 15 speech; see Evans (2014). BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  argument that these highly accommodative monetary policies might sow the seeds of financial instability. The fear is that excessive and persistently low interest rates would lead to excessive risktaking by some investors. For instance, some firms, such as life insurance companies and pension funds, are under pressure to meet a stream of fixed liabilities incurred when interest rates were higher.3 (And perhaps these liabilities were offered at somewhat generous terms to begin with.)
Deregulations have also led to increased competition in many areas. The labour market also seems to operate more flexibly than before. 4  BIS Review ? ?/2001  Financial savings in different sectors in Sweden, per cent of GDP Per cent 8  6  Private sec tor  4  2  0  -2  C urrent acc ount  -4  -6  Public s ector  -8  -10  -12  -14 198 0  198 1  19 82  1983  1984  1985  1986  198 7  198 8  19 89  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  199 5  199 6  1997  1998  1999  2000  And it is considered that there is considerable potential for growth with regard to making use of IT development. This is perhaps more true for Sweden than for the US economy. In the IT sphere, Sweden is a long way forward although to date development has not affected productivity in the whole of the business sector to the same extent as in the United States. Neither have we seen such a strong growth in investment as in the United States. It will be a while before the new technology is implemented and used to the full although it will be first then that major benefits for the whole economy can be expected.

Villy Bergström: The Riksbank’s role in the economy Speech by Mr Villy Bergström, Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, to the Swedish Shareholders Association, Jönköping, 28 February 2001. *  *  *  Some time ago, the British journal The Economist wrote that the world’s central banks were now at the height of their power. It is easy to get that impression when you see the enormous amount of interest devoted to the central banks in the daily press, the broadcasting media and economic journals. This applies to the Riksbank in Sweden, to the European Central Bank – the ECB – and, especially to the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve with Alan Greenspan in the foreground. During the autumn electoral campaign in the United States, a number of newspapers put forward the view that it would not make any difference whether Al Gore or George Bush was elected as President - it was in any case Greenspan who was in control. When Greenspan surprisingly cut the American instrumental rate by 0.5% in January between two ordinary monetary policy meetings of the Federal Reserve’s decision-making body, the decision was applauded with headlines such as “Greenspan saves the world again”. This type of statement is simply ridiculous. The importance of monetary policy cannot be compared with the Government’s general policies or with the office of President. However, things have gone so far that the central bank is regarded as a second government in many countries. These comparisons are, of course, unreasonable.
Mr. Heikensten answers eight questions on monetary policy in Sweden Speech by the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Sweden, Mr. Lars Heikensten, at The Economics Association in Umeå on 19/2/98. Introduction During the 1990s monetary policy has been the subject of intensive discussion. This is not surprising, given the serious crisis in the Swedish economy at the beginning of the decade and the role that monetary policy played both then and as the crisis was building up. Since that time, monetary policy has had an explicit role to safeguard independently the value of money – a role that is new in Sweden in the post-war period. With a floating exchange rate, the decisions currently made by the Riksbank on its instrumental rate are very real and important to the behaviour of households and businesses and to economic growth. The monetary policy discussion has evolved over time. Questions and statements about monetary policy’s basic objective of price stability that were very frequent a couple of years ago are less so today. Understanding of the Riksbank’s actions seems to have increased. We are presently trying to evaluate this by asking the public how it views the Riksbank’s work and by following the media and newsletters written by the market’s players. It is also possible to form an opinion based on the market’s reactions to changes in the instrumental rates as to whether the policy is understandable.

And why, for countries where there have been larger and faster increases in household debt levels, recessions have tended to be deeper still. The Financial Policy Committee has already acted in response to the growing momentum in the housing market. As well as the general strengthening of bank capital, the FPC, in conjunction with other regulators and the Treasury, withdrew both the cheap funding and favourable capital treatment of mortgage lending introduced after the crisis to help support the housing market. And, we have asked the FCA that when lenders test whether prospective borrowers can afford, through time, the mortgages they seek they should bear in mind future Financial Policy Committee recommendation on the appropriate interest rate stress test to use in assessments of affordability. Whether and how to act further if, following the pause of the last couple of months, momentum continues to build will be the most challenging judgment the FPC will have to take in the coming months. The FPC’s response will depend on the nature of the risks to stability identified. The FPC’s powers of direction in relation to the capital banks and building societies bear most directly on mortgage lenders’ ability to weather a downturn and housing bust once it has emerged. Others, like the FPC’s powers to make comply or explain recommendations to the PRA and FCA could bear more directly on the crucial underwriting standards and affordability constraints like debt service to income, loan to income and loan to value.
Jean-Claude Trichet: Structural reforms for the European economy Speech by Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, at the Forum ABC, Madrid, 15 February 2008. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, I would first like to thank very warmly the organisers for inviting me to speak here today in the context of the series of conferences organised by the “Forum ABC”. In my intervention I would like to share with you my views on “Structural reforms for the European economy” and on the importance such reforms have for job creation and productivity growth. This is indeed a major policy issue and, I believe, a topic of great interest to everyone here too. After all, high employment and high productivity levels are the key preconditions for a high level of real income and living standards in our societies. If we look back over the last decade, employment growth has been strong in the euro area and even more so in Spain. However, over the same period, labour productivity growth decelerated significantly in the euro area and in Spain in particular. A key challenge therefore is how to simultaneously achieve solid employment and productivity growth. It is well-established in the economic literature that structural reforms and institutions are among the main factors that explain the different performance of per capita income growth across countries over the medium to long term.

14  See P. Hartmann, F. Heider, E. Papaioannou and M. Lo Duca (2007), “The role of financial markets and innovation in productivity and growth in Europe”, ECB Occasional Paper Series, September, as well as ECB (2007) “Financial integration in Europe”, Frankfurt a.M: ECB. 15  Some authors have calculated that if the average size of capital markets in the European Union was bigger in the United States for instance, it is around 450% of GDP instead of 220% as in the European Union (based on an overall indicator measuring total financing in the economy by aggregating bank credit to the private sector, stock market capitalisation and the outstanding amount of domestic debt securities issued by the private sector) - then annual GDP per capita growth in the European Union could be positively influenced (see G. Favara (2006), “An empirical reassessment of the relationship between finance and growth”, mimeo). BIS Review 18/2008  5  2005, and telephone prices charged by the former monopolies for national and international calls for instance, fell by more than 40% on average in Europe between 2000 and 2006. This supported the purchasing power of consumers, who have now more of their income available to spend on goods and services. Supporting an innovative environment To fully exploit productivity potential, the product market reforms I have just mentioned need to be accompanied by policies that support innovation and technological changes.
While the future path  BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  of policy is not on a pre-set course and must remain data dependent, we will strive to be similarly effective in our communications going forward. As you know, we’ve taken a number of steps in recent years to increase transparency and improve our communications. This includes regular press conferences by the Fed chair following FOMC meetings; the publishing of growth, inflation, unemployment and federal funds rate projections by FOMC participants; a concerted attempt to lay out the guideposts that the FOMC will look at to assess progress toward our mandate; and an equally concerted attempt to lay out how our various policy tools―such as interest on reserves, overnight reverse repurchase (ON RRP) operations and reinvestment of principal payments from our asset holdings – will be used to pursue our objectives. We are also working to be better stewards in safeguarding financial stability. Simply put, we failed to act early enough and decisively enough to stem the credit excesses that spawned the financial crisis and Great Recession. The U.S. was not alone in this shortcoming, but, given our position in the global financial system, we should have done better. We’ve taken important steps through new legislative mandates and a broader effort to rethink our regulatory and supervisory framework. In particular, systemically important banking organizations must now hold capital and liquidity buffers that are better aligned with their risk profiles.

In assessing the current state of the U.S. economy, there are divergent signals, with weakness in some spending and production indicators, but robustness in a number of labor market indicators. In the fourth quarter, investment spending for both equipment and structures fell, and net exports and inventory investment were drags on growth. These developments partly reflect the slowing of global growth and the impact of the dollar’s appreciation since mid-2014. This weakness has been particularly evident in U.S. manufacturing. However, the latest ISM non-manufacturing index suggests the possibility of a slower pace of growth also in the  1  Matthew Higgins, Jonathan McCarthy, Paolo Pesenti and Joseph Tracy assisted in preparing these remarks. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  services sector, which has been relatively robust. Consumer spending growth – which had been a brighter spot for most of 2015 – also slowed notably in the fourth quarter. In contrast, the U.S. labor market has remained healthy and supportive of growth. Over the course of 2015, payroll employment increased an average of about 228,000 per month. Although the January increase of 151,000 was below last year’s pace, other aspects of the report were strong. The January data indicated substantial gains in wages and hours worked, which implies healthy real income growth for the household sector. Moreover, the amount of slack in the labor market continues to diminish based on a number of measures. The unemployment rate declined to 4.9 percent.
Ardian Fullani: Overview of Albania’s latest economic and financial developments Speech by Mr Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, on the Monetary Policy Decision-Making of the Bank of Albania’s Supervisory Council, Tirana, 30 April 2013. *  *  *  Today, on 30 April 2013, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania reviewed and approved the quarterly Monetary Policy Report. Based on the most recent monetary and economic developments in Albania, and following the discussions on their outlook, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged, at 3.75%. The Supervisory Council deems that the current monetary conditions are adequate to meet Bank of Albania's inflation target in the medium term. The present interest rates and liquidity situation in the economy provide simultaneously the necessary monetary stimulus to boost domestic demand. Let me now proceed with an overview of the economic developments and key issues discussed at today’s meeting. *** According to INSTAT data, economic activity in Albania increased 1.6% in 2012. The Albanian economy showed signs of weakness during the past year, reflecting an overall uncertainty in the internal and external environment. Nonetheless, against the backdrop of unfavourable developments, the main indicators of domestic and external balances remained within healthy parameters. During this period, inflation ranged within the Bank of Albania target band and indicators of banking system soundness improved. Maintaining these balances provides the right macroeconomic premises for sustainable and long-term growth.

A banking union is necessary for the smooth functioning of a monetary union for the following three reasons: •  It breaks the link between banks and sovereigns by bringing banking supervision and crisis management to the federal level. With the banking union, banks will be considered as euro area institutions over and above their nationality; it will ensure that credit conditions in the euro area will not depend on where you are but on who you are, which is what should be expected of an efficient financial market. •  It allows re-integration of the European banking system. A supra-national supervisor is in fact better placed to assess the risks of cross-border activities and therefore to protect and encourage such activities; it is not subject to national biases that can lead to the temptation of economic introversion. It is therefore more credible and strengthens stability and confidence in the area;  •  Moreover, it restores the full efficacy of monetary policy. If our monetary policy impulses are not transmitted uniformly to all of the area’s countries because of the bank-sovereign link, it undermines the very foundation of Europe’s monetary union; remember that three quarters of the financing of the euro area’s economy consists of bank loans. By breaking this link, a banking union would restore the federal dimension of monetary policy. Today the first pillar of the banking union is being constructed: the Single Supervisory Mechanism.
Since market-based finance needs good collateral to grow sustainably, its availability directly influences the supply of finance to British households and businesses. The use of collateral is not without risks. When collateral values rise, fixed haircuts allow banks and non-banks to borrow more, pushing up asset values further. The reverse is also true. This inherent pro-cyclicality exposes the system to sharp corrections in collateral values. In extremis, a sell-off in financial markets leads to higher haircuts, a run on repo and ultimately a market freeze. To reduce these risks, the FSB has proposed minimum regulatory standards for collateral valuation and management as well as a schedule of numerical haircut floors to repo transactions. The FSB also now requires central clearing of “standardised” derivative transactions to limit exposures between counterparties, promote efficient netting of positions and moderate collateral cycles. New minimum capital and margining requirements for bilateral OTC derivative trades will similarly protect banks from defaults of their counterparties while reducing procyclicality in the system. The combination of such reforms and the experience of the crisis will mean that institutions both need more collateral and need to manage it better.9 Fortunately financial markets know  7  The ratio of US primary dealer fixed income holdings to bonds outstanding has fallen by between 70% and 85% since 2007. This measure includes US investment-grade and high-yield corporate bonds, non-agency MBS and commercial paper, and excludes government securities and Agency MBS.

This has prompted several emerging economies to restructure their fuel subsidies in an effort to create more efficient economies and to achieve more sustainable fiscal positions. This has been followed by the consequent adjustments in consumer prices as the gap between international market prices and domestic prices narrow. In Malaysia , petrol prices were adjusted by  BIS Review 90/2008  1  40.6% while diesel prices by 63.3%. This adjustment would be reflected in the consumer price inflation in June, which is expected to exceed 6%. Beginning 1 July, electricity tariffs have also been raised by up to 18% for households and an average of 26% for some commercial and industry users. While domestic inflation is expected to remain elevated for the remaining part of this year and early next year, it is expected to moderate in the second half of 2009. In the current international environment, the policy response needs to be contextualised to the conditions prevailing in each individual economy. In those economies that are experiencing overheating and strong demand conditions, there is greater clarity in terms of the need for policy to rein in demand. However, for economies that are experiencing moderating growth, the risks to growth and inflation need to be carefully evaluated. In addition, consideration needs to be given to the deflationary impact of the fuel price increases on consumption.
CPI inflation remains subdued at a rate of 0.4 percent year on year in October, reflecting the sizable output gap and well-anchored inflation expectations. On the financial stability front, the banking sector remains resilient with healthy balance sheets and the lending capacity largely preserved. And notwithstanding the strong resurgence of capital flows, the risk of asset price bubble, either in equity or in housing, for now remains low given the slow growth of bank credit and the more subdued initial conditions. The situation on asset prices, however, warrants a close monitoring as credit conditions can change quickly given the ample domestic liquidity. In sum, the Thai economy is now in a process of recovery. The economy is poised to return to positive growth next year. At this time, however, the momentum of private sector demand is still not robust with the momentum largely mirroring the support from policy. Economic and financial stability, on the other hand, is intact with subdued inflation and a resilient banking sector. Therefore, given weak private sector demand, the Monetary Policy Committee is of the view that policy support remains needed as a firm recovery is yet to be established. It was in this context that the policy interest rate was kept unchanged at 1.25 percent in the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting in October. Next, let me share with you our assessment of the outlook for the economy and policy.

It seeks to provide banks with stronger incentives to employ the most advanced techniques to calculate risk exposures and, hence, to push risk-management towards the best available practices. Specifically, Basel II makes these general principles operative by building on three complementary pillars. The first pillar is intended to achieve a more precise and sensitive mapping between banks’ actual risks and the minimum regulatory capital requirements. Under the new framework, banks are allowed and, indeed, encouraged to rely on their own measures of certain risk parameters, thus fostering a wider usage of the best available techniques and tools for that purpose. The Committee firmly believes that a better alignment between regulatory and economic capital is conducive to a more efficient allocation of credit and a less distortionary regulatory system. The framework is also extended to operational risks, which have proved to be more relevant in an increasingly complex world that demands highly sophisticated processes. The second pillar, supervisory review, requires banks to assess their own capital needs for their overall risk profiles, including whether any activities or exposures may incorporate more risk – and hence may require more capital – than is assumed in Pillar 1. Supervisors, in turn, must evaluate the banks’ assessments and processes, and respond if these are not appropriate.