samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
But, as a citizen, I cannot help and feel proud of having one the two main currencies in the world. In sum, benefits of the euro include a high degree of credibility of monetary policy reflected in the level of long-term interest rates; diminished exchange rate volatility; completion of the single market and encouragement to cross-border trade. None of this, of course, can be taken for granted. Benign conditions currently prevailing on financial markets can be reversed. External or internal shocks may be coming, which would impact negatively European economies. The American economy could for example slow down more sharply than anticipated. Fuelled by an excessive expansion of credit, some internal imbalances, although in no way comparable to those in some other developed economies, could also develop in the euro area, especially in the housing sector. But I have the strong conviction that we are fully equipped to deal with any contingency, and, provided the necessary structural reforms are undertaken, keep the economy on a path of growth and stability. BIS Review 3/2007  1  2)  How have those successes been achieved? A lot comes, in my view, from the institutional and operational framework in which monetary policy is developed and implemented. The independence of the ECB and of the 12, very soon 13, participating NCBs is enshrined in the Treaty. They are institutionally, operationally and financially independent from European Community institutions and national governments. We have a clear and transparent definition of price stability: inflation below but close to 2% over the medium-term.

In 2005, EU Heads of Government re-launched the Lisbon strategy with an enhanced focus on jobs and growth and a streamlined governance regime. The key elements are the National Reform Programs which cover, for each country, the commitments taken over a 3-years cycle as regards structural reforms. EMU, with a single monetary policy and 12 governments responsible for budgetary policies, requires an institutional fiscal framework. It has to be simple, easy to implement, and able to ensure that fiscal policies are sound and sustainable, to avoid free-riding behaviours as well as neo-ricardian effects. The most widely-discussed surveillance process, because it is the most binding one, is the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). The Pact may be defined as the “users instructions” for the obligation, defined in the Treaty, for EU Member States, to achieve a medium-term budgetary position of close to balance or in surplus, while maintaining the ratio of the annual government deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) at within 3 % and the ratio of gross government debt to GDP at within 60 %. Member States which do not respect these ratios face an “excessive deficit” procedure which may lead the Ecofin Council to take a series of measures which range from simple recommendations to financial sanctions. In 2005, the European Council agreed to reform the SGP. The important role of the SGP in terms of budgetary discipline is confirmed.
It is rather a symptom of what might possibly be termed ‘temporary growing pains’. It remains to be seen how serious this setback will be, above all for the U.S. economy, but sooner or later the transformation will pick up speed again. How far have we come in the IT revolution? Turning now from history to our own time, the question of how far we have come is obviously not an easy one to answer. It has been calculated that the economic impact of technical advances such as IT 5 takes forty to fifty years to materialise in full. If the microprocessor’s breakthrough in the early 1970s constitutes the starting point, then it will presumably be another couple of decades before any sizeable economic effects are discernible. Counting instead from the invention of the computer in the mid 1940s, however, means that we could already be in the beginning of a phase of rising productivity and growth. Nevertheless, I believe it is till early to be able to provide an unequivocal answer to this question. What is clear is that electronics and microprocessors have revolutionised telecommunications and household appliances such as TV sets, videos and music equipment. We give little thought to the fact that microchips are now to be found in the simplest kitchen appliances. They are a part of our daily round. Bear in mind, moreover, that there are no doubt applications that have not yet been exploited with the more powerful and, above all, cheaper capacity of new computers.

Firms need this in order to raise equity and find European venture capital; keeping a European capacity in investment banking is a strategic imperative. Financial players need this in order to conduct cross-border mergers: European banking consolidation is overdue, and it is indispensable, not to reduce competition – quite the opposite – but to reach the critical mass necessary to make digital investments and allow savings to circulate. And, lastly, the euro area needs it in order to finally have an effective economic stabilisation tool to weather the shocks affecting some countries: “private risk sharing” is effective between states in the United States. If one doesn’t want a fiscal union – duly noted –, one must make even more resolute progress on the Capital Markets Union. We have talked enough about this, and it is now time to take concrete  Page 2 sur 5 measures: this must be the ambition of the new Commission. The ECB will support it, and France will be a committed player. My second prerequisite is the successful implementation of Basel III. It is vital that we do not forget the lessons from the financial crisis, nor break the promise we made in 2017. But this transposition must be fair – naturally involving the United States – and reasonable. The first estimates of capital requirements are premature and do not give the horizon: Basel III will be finalised only in 2027.
Mervyn King: Monetary policy developments Speech by Mr Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, to CBI Wales/CBI CYMRU, Cardiff, 11 June 2007. *  *  *  Chairman, First Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, Two years ago I spent a few days walking along Offa’s Dyke. Up on the ridge, between Hay and Pandy, there is a magnificent 360° view. The patchwork quilt of green fields in England lies to the east. But the eye is drawn to the rugged and spectacular scenery of the Black Mountains in “Wild Wales” to the west. The landscape, however, is not everything because as George Borrow wrote in 1862: “Wales has something beyond wonderful scenery, its eventful history, and its illustrious men of yore to interest the visitor. Wales has a population, and a remarkable one.” It is a population that has had to adapt to great changes in the world economy over the past century and continues to do so today. You need only look outside at the Cardiff Bay development to see the way the Welsh economy has changed. When you take a flight, the aircraft may well have wings made in Wales. Your car might have a Welsh engine and be insured in Cardiff. And when you holiday in France your morning croissant has probably been baked in an oven made in Swansea. What happens in Wales matters for the UK economy. That is why the Bank of England has a team who live and work in Wales.

Thankfully, Marvin, along with others, helped lay the intellectual groundwork and created the vocabulary for us to work through some of the most significant issues facing central banks. His work is a true emblem of how researchers play a vital role in informing and shaping the policy discussion. I look forward to the upcoming conversation. Thank you. 1 Jeffrey C. Fuhrer and Mark S. Sniderman, Conference Summary, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Volume  32, Number 4, Part 2, pp. 845–69, November 2000. 2 Marvin Goodfriend, Overcoming the Zero Bound on Interest Rate Policy, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking,  Volume 32, Number 4, Part 2, pp. 1007–35, November 2000. 3 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Transcript of the Federal Open Market Committee Meeting  and presentation materials, January 29–30, 2002. 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches
Also, several measures were taken to improve the overall risk management framework of the EPF with a view to enhancing accountability and the 36  transparency of investment activities. As a part of this process, new Investment Policy Statement and Investment Guidelines were introduced. The governance structure of the EPF risk management was also strengthened through the establishment of an EPF Investment Oversight Committee in addition to the EPF Investment Committee to monitor investment activities. With the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), EPF carried out a Business Review with the objective of streamlining and improving its current activities. In addition, the actions pertaining to procuring a new ICT system to automate EPF activities were continued with the assistance of Word Bank. With a view to facilitating web based services, we developed the EPF website and it is expected to be launched shortly. Real time validation of member details and the member account updating procedure were continued through online banking systems of LCBs in 2018. Going forward, EPF expects to generate the highest level of risk adjusted return through different investment strategies, while adhering to the new Investment Policy Statement and Investment Guidelines. The Fund, as a long term institutional investor, is seeking to capitalise on new market opportunities and instruments through a comprehensive investment diversification process. Foreign Exchange Management The liberalisation of foreign exchange transactions was advanced with the introduction of foreign exchange Act No. 12 of 2017 (FEA).

Further, several measures are in the pipeline, including the issuing of regular Monetary Policy Reports, which will be developed into Inflation Reports in the future and expanding the public awareness outreach programme, which will be implemented during next two years as set out in the road map for FIT. As another important step, we re-commenced publishing an advance release calendar for regular monetary policy announcements last year. Continuing this practice, we wish to present the advance release calendar for monetary policy announcements for the year 2019 as set out below. 21  Monetary Policy Announcements in 2019 Announcement No. Date of Announcement  1  22 February, Friday  2  10 April, Wednesday  3  31 May, Friday  4  12 July, Friday  5  23 August, Friday  6  11 October, Friday  7  15 November, Friday  8  27 December, Friday  Currently, although the global economy is somewhat less robust than it was in the first half of 2018, the pace of global growth remains strong pointing to further normalisation of monetary policy in major economies. This has necessitated most emerging market economies to adjust their monetary policy in view of addressing economic imbalances associated with capital flows, currency depreciation, trade wars, etc. Taking such trends into consideration and responding to domestic economic developments, we will continue to remain vigilant in formulating our monetary policy to ensure sustained economic and price stability in Sri Lanka. 22  3.
I was just reading a paper written by three German economists on extreme politics, in a very good economic journal, about the political consequences of big recessions in 20 countries from 1870 to the present day.2 And indeed they show a correlation between extreme severe downturns and the political polarisation. Only in the case of financial crises during the ensuing five years, far-right parties increased on average their voting share by 30%. Far-left parties never benefited much from financial crises. And so I’m not saying that the increase in populism, liberal democracy is some authoritarian drive, it’s only the result of the economic crisis; there are other factors, but it’s certainly a big one. Let’s talk more about the crisis. Can you remember the first moment when you became concerned? I became concerned at the beginning of 2010, when, back in February, the budget deficits of several countries for 2009 were known and were higher than anyone expected. Particularly, of course in Greece, which recorded a deficit of 15% instead of an expected 5.6%, but also other countries. We started to feel the pressure in the bond market after that, so those were the first signs of something really becoming serious. Then it intensified. We had a meeting of the Governing Council in Lisbon on 5 May, just a few weeks before I came here to the ECB. That was the day of the flash crash in Wall Street, with 4/8  BIS central bankers' speeches  huge repercussions in bond markets everywhere.

Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Advancing women’s leadership in public life Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Women in Leadership Forum “Power sharing in the public sector”, Kuala Lumpur, 22 February 2011. *  *  *  Introduction In this twenty-first century, it is human capital rather than physical capital that will define performance and progress. Women represent half of the world population and therefore half the potential resource that can drive such performance. This is reinforced by the more recent trend that increasingly, the majority of those with college education are women. Increasingly therefore, this group represents a more significant resource potential that can rise to leadership positions. In emerging economies, where such high powered talent is scarce, gender has not been of an issue. Women have risen to leadership positions based on their merits and capabilities. Women in Malaysia have certainly made significant strides in their participation in all segments of the Malaysian economy and have demonstrated their ability to lead and to succeed in both the public and private sectors. It is my honour to be here today to speak at this Women in Leadership Forum on the topic on “Advancing Women’s Leadership in Public Life: Power Sharing in the Public Sector”. In Asia, in particular, women have risen to key positions and have been given the opportunity to contribute to the nation’s progress and development.
The fall in risk premiums meant that the effect on asset prices were more important than what the changes in the risk free rate alone would suggest. While low risk premiums, taken at face value, signal a healthy economy, many supervisors and central banks were concerned that risk premiums had fallen too far. As we all know, risk premiums in credit market rose dramatically this summer. Uncertainty over the value of US subprime mortgage backed securities then ignited a furious “flight-to-quality”, which actually seized up important segments of the money market. It is too early to tell what the permanent outcome of these events will be. However, it is clear that if they signal a return to higher risk premiums and tighter credit conditions, asset price inflation is likely to slow down. The area where the current regime of low interest rates and small risk premiums has had its most marked impact is probably that of residential property and household debt. The rise in house prices the last ten years have indeed been unprecedented in duration, magnitude and synchronisation across countries. In Sweden, this has caused a substantial amount of public concern, and an often asked question is if there is a significant overvaluation in the housing market and if the households are overly indebted. Answering these questions is a daunting task, and requires an educated opinion on the equilibrium price of residential property and on the optimal level of household indebtedness.

6  Other societies espouse comparable principles, “It cannot be acceptable in a democratic society that a group of unelected individuals are vested with important responsibilities without being open to full scrutiny and accountability.” Cf. speech given by Alan Greenspan on 5 December 1996 on “'The Challenge of Central Banking in a Democratic Society,” Washington D.C. Also, “Democratic principles demand that, as an agent of the government, a central bank must be accountable in the pursuit of its mandated goals, responsive to the public and its elected representatives and transparent in its policies.” Cf. speech given by Ben Bernanke on 26 May 2010, on “Central Bank Independence, Transparency and Accountability,” Tokyo. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  responsibility for its own area.7 Each year we submit an Accountability Report to the Federal Assembly, in which we outline how we have fulfilled our mandate. Also, on frequent occasions we are called upon to provide a full account of our actions to the relevant parliamentary commissions. In addition, we provide the general public with regular information about our assessment of the economic situation and monetary policy – in press releases or half-yearly media conferences immediately after our quarterly monetary policy assessments, in speeches and in interviews. In this way we ensure transparency. Through our legal status as a joint-stock company, we also have duties towards our shareholders which we fulfil each year, at the General Meeting, within the framework set out by the National Bank Act.
For details, see the FPC Record of meetings held on 28 June and 1 July, available at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/records/fpc/pdf/2016/record1607.pdf 44 A classic view from Brainard (1967) is that uncertainty over the impact of a policy instrument should make a policymaker less active. Bahaj and Foulis (2016) show that this conclusion may not hold for the complex reality faced by a macroprudential policymaker. Specifically, the large costs of financial crises, the presence of unquantifiable sources of risk, the ability to learn from policy, and private sector uncertainty can all be supportive of bolder, more active policy. 31  17  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  17

This is all the more important in the context of the “originate and distribute” model given that the effectiveness of the risk transfer instruments on the basis of which the latter has developed requires sufficient liquidity both on the part of agents and markets. It is, incidentally, worth noting that the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) and the Basel Committee are working on a revision of the current regulations regarding liquidity. Moreover, concerning risks incurred by some activities such as asset management, it appears necessary to gain a better insight into the transmission channels of these risks between activities carried out for banks’ own account and for third parties as well as the liquidity requirements generated by the latter. More generally, the methods used to assess and capture some risks such as reputational risk and strategic risk, notably in the context of Pillar 2, need to be developed. I would like to stress the very important role that Pillar 2 must play in improving banks’ management practices i) regarding new risks not covered by Pillar 1 and ii) in areas that supervisors deem, specifically, liable to become new sources of vulnerability. In practice, for some activities, there are still no universally accepted standards for risk management. This does not mean, however, that banks’ risk management  BIS Review 11/2008  5  processes in these activities are always sufficiently stringent, but rather that there is a wide range of instruments available for this purpose, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
What we need to carry with us Before saying a few words about the way forward for monetary policy in the new environment, I would like to dwell for a moment on the question of what expectations there should be about monetary policy. The fact is that we are  8 [13]  emerging from a period in which this question has, in a sense, been brought to a head. Monetary policy in recent years has been focused on bringing inflation up to the target, while consideration of other circumstances in the economy has basically had to take a back seat. I am thinking here primarily of the risks of various negative side-effects from the low level of interest rates. This is an experience we carry with us as we go forward. And it is not only of significance for monetary policy. Confidence in the inflation target cannot be taken for granted For a long time, the Riksbank has been expressing concern for the risks posed to the economy by household indebtedness and rising housing prices. And during the period up until 2014, these risks periodically had some influence on ratesetting. As always, however, it was the economic outlook and inflation prospects that directed the focus of monetary policy. But the Riksbank made use of the flexibility in inflation targeting to help subdue debt accumulation and housing price increases to some extent. This was done by keeping the repo rate marginally higher than was justified by the outlook for inflation alone.

But such a turnaround requires considerable caution, in my opinion. As regards the Riksbank’s holdings of government bonds, we presented an overall strategy for normalisation before Christmas. 2 In brief, it states that the Riksbank shall continue to reinvest redemptions and coupon payments until the repo rate  See the article “The Riksbank’s strategy for a gradual normalisation of monetary policy” in the December 2017 Monetary Policy Report. 2  3 [13]  has reached a suitable level. Thereafter, reinvestments can also be scaled back. When this happens, bond holdings will decrease. What the environment looks like going forward Economically, things look relatively good and if everything goes as expected, monetary policy internationally and in Sweden will gradually and slowly move closer to a normal situation. But in what kind of environment will monetary policy be conducted going forward? And what does this normal situation actually look like? These are questions that have come increasingly into focus in recent years. It would probably be a mistake to take it for granted that the same map used before the crisis can be used to get our bearings in the current situation. To begin with, it is important to properly evaluate the experience gained over the last decade and integrate the lessons learned into our economic thinking. Structural changes may also have influenced underlying trends in the economy and I would like to give three examples of such changes which, in some way or other, will influence Swedish monetary policy in the future.