samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
For the first time in its history, Switzerland is surrounded by countries all sharing the same currency. Even without being a member of the Union, it is affected by this new monetary situation. De facto, our trade with Europe is already taking place in one currency only - the euro - because the parities of the former national currencies have been definitively locked. That means that our foreign trade is less diversified by currencies than earlier and that fluctuations of the SF/euro exchange rate have an even stronger impact on the Swiss economy than the former SF/DM or SF/FF exchange rates. At the same time, a common monetary policy for Europe is likely to lead - over time - to a stronger synchronization of business activity in the EMU member states. This, in turn, means that the impact of the European business cycle on the Swiss economy will become more even and thus also stronger. More than ever, Switzerland’s economic destiny will be linked to that of Europe. Today, Switzerland benefits already from the technical simplification induced by the substitution of ten different currencies by a single one. Monetary unification brings advantages to internationally oriented firms as it simplifies their foreign currency management and their accounting procedures. From the year 2002 onward, when the euro will exist in the form of cash, the single currency will make things even easier for a broad public, not only for the Europeans, but also for every Swiss travelling through the euro-zone.

Michael Held: The evolving first line of defense Keynote address by Mr Michael Held, Executive Vice President of the Legal Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the 1LoD Summit, New York City, 17 April 2018. * * * Good morning. It’s an honor to join you at the 1LoD Summit. The views I express today are my own, not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.1 I’ve heard it said that being in the risk control business can be, and often is, a thankless task. We get all the blame when something goes wrong, and none of the glory when things go right. So, I want to start my remarks with a word of gratitude to you, my fellow travelers in the world of risk controls. Thank you—not just for the invitation to speak today, but also for the work you perform each day at your firms. The growing sophistication and stature of the first line of defense is, in my view, an unqualified improvement in corporate governance—especially at financial firms. Let’s begin with what you are defending. The credibility and reputation of your colleagues, your employer, and your industry. The trust of your customers and clients. And, perhaps most important, the public interest. From my perspective, you are not just a first line of defense for your organization. You are the first line of defense against significant risks to the financial system. This may sound inflated to some.
But these factors do not suffice to explain either the scale of the deficit or the speed at which it has widened, and they should not therefore conceal the existence of a genuine deterioration relating to the losses in competitiveness built up in recent years, as I shall now seek to illustrate. But let me first address the significance and scope of an external deficit when the country concerned belongs to a monetary union, so as to qualify interpretations whereby such a deficit would have ceased to be a cause for concern. It is true that under the new circumstances there is no danger of a burgeoning external deficit generating financial or foreign-exchange pressures that then trigger a sharp adjustment in the economy, since fundamental variables such as the interest rate and the exchange rate are determined at the area-wide level. But that does not mean that the economy is immune to competitiveness problems. On the contrary, when a large external deficit emerges in a monetary union as a result of an economy’s difficulties in competing, a very costly dilemma may arise: nominal costs are either adjusted head-on, or the loss of competitiveness will check the generation of value added and job creation. A first sign of competitiveness problems is to be found in the growing difficulties Spanish products face in maintaining their market shares. Spanish export shares on foreign markets, which had held stable since the start of Monetary Union, tended to decline in 2004, even on the European market.

Fiscal stability and fiscal discipline are basic assets of Spanish economic policy which, however, are not always easy to manage, as shown by the vagaries of the European fiscal framework. It is thus very important that the review of the Fiscal Stability Law and of the Autonomous (Regional) Government Financing system should not lead to a weakening of fiscal discipline. In a situation in which it is necessary to make headway simultaneously in job creation and in productivity gains, the role of supply-side policies geared to improving the workings of the economy and expanding its potential growth is crucial. One of the main messages in the Annual Report presented today is precisely that it will become increasingly difficult for the Spanish economy to keep raising its levels of well-being if it does not make progress on both these fronts. Maintaining high levels of job creation is, and will continue to be, a powerful means of expanding the economy’s growth potential, but it will be impossible to sustain economic momentum in the long term if the economy does not improve its competitive position in the increasingly dynamic international setting. And to do this, it is essential to significantly improve the poor performance of productivity. Under this approach, labour market reform heads the list of transformations that are needed.
Caleb M Fundanga: Future of the Zambian economy – a balanced look Paper presented by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at a discussion sponsored by the LSA Group, Ndola, 30 June 2006. * •  Mr. Chairperson  •  Distinguished Guests  •  Ladies and Gentlemen  *  *  On behalf of the Bank of Zambia and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Lawrence Sikutwa Associates for inviting me to this very important discussion. Our interaction with the corporate world on the subject “The Future of the Zambian Economy – A Balanced Look” is indeed appreciated and very important. This subject, as you rightly pointed out in your letter of invitation to us, is vital considering that Zambia, in general, and Ndola, in particular, are in dire need of investment. It is this investment, Mr. Chairman, which would create employment and accelerate economic growth, a necessary condition to combating extreme poverty among the Zambian people. Ladies and Gentlemen, the future of the Zambian economy can only be known, if one understands the past and the present. Therefore, with your permission, I would like to begin by giving an account of the macroeconomic developments in Zambia in the recent past. I am certain that many of you have been following the economic trends and have seen that the economy has performed relatively well in recent years.

This is the dividend in respect of resource saving which represents one of the net benefits of moving to a single currency, even though the forex traders whose skills are no longer in such demand may not see it that way. In the bond market we have witnessed the first Hong Kong corporate issue in euro, which generated good demand - primarily from European investors but also with significant interest  1  BIS Review 53/1999  from local buyers. In former times an issue of this sort in any of the parent currencies would probably have been rarer, because the individual markets lacked maturity. A significant consequence of the euro’s arrival is that there now exists a market with the potential for a critical mass of liquidity well beyond that which the individual parent currency markets ever managed to achieve. There is further evidence to support that view in provisional reports that global international bond issuance in euro this year has exceeded that of issuance in the parent currencies during the equivalent period last year, while the same comparison for non-euro European currencies shows a decline (although I have not yet seen the formal statistics by which to confirm this). This has been achieved despite the fact that the process of establishing the euro firmly in these markets is not yet complete.
And arguably, since the crisis, that relationship has become more important to our understanding of inflationary pressure in the economy. Before the crisis the supply side of the economy posed far fewer puzzles. Productivity grew at a relatively steady rate around 2% a year and we had, or thought we had, a relatively clear idea of labour supply. The MPC certainly did not need to give as much attention to the evolution of the supply side of the economy as its present day counterpart. That is not just my recollection as the Treasury representative on the Committee from 2002 to 2007. It is borne out by the minutes – the rate of mentions of ‘supply’ and ‘productivity’ in the minutes of MPC meetings in the past decade has been about twice that in the decade prior to the crisis. As my colleague, Ben Broadbent has pointed out, pre-crisis the MPC could navigate primarily by demand and output. Changes in unemployment lagged changes in demand and output and, in the UK at least, the relationship between pay and unemployment appeared relatively stable. 5  The post-crisis uncertainty over productivity and the dependence of economic growth on labour supply has, as Ben suggests, led the MPC to depend more on the labour market as a guide to spare capacity in the economy and on the relationship between pay and unemployment as a guide to domestically generated inflationary pressure in the pipeline.

Lars Nyberg: Developments in the property market Speech by Mr Lars Nyberg, Deputy Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, at the seminar on properties, Malmö, 2 September 2003. *  *  *  I would like to begin by thanking you for the opportunity to come to Malmö and speak about the Riksbank's view of developments in the property market. Of course, these developments are not only of interest to those of us present today. They are important to all people, as movements in property prices have significance both for the real economy and financial developments in Sweden. When property prices rise, we feel more financially secure and increase our consumption, which leads to a rise in employment and growth. We might even borrow a bit more from the bank if we can. Normally, there is no harm in this. But there is a limit, of course, to the burden of debt households can bear without giving rise to worrisome risks. Should the debt of commercial property companies also swell, it could entail risks for the stability of the entire banking system, a point that was illustrated so well during the crisis at the beginning of the 1990s. On account of this, the Riksbank monitors developments in the property market carefully. We usually divide it into two segments, which give rise to different questions and reflections. The first segment is the housing market. Since 1997, housing prices have risen by just over 50 per cent, measured in current prices.
In my view, this process should be supported through: the regulatory approach to in-formalised activities; completion of the financial infrastructure which reduces costs on formal activities; and coordinated initiatives with the public sector. The Bank of Albania should pay a crucial role in the financial education field, in compiling and implementing the national strategies and promoting the increase of financial literacy in Albania. This should be considered vital to the long-term growth of the society’s welfare. In addition, the Bank of Albania will continue the work to increasing financial inclusion of the population. Modernisation of the payment system and the increased level of electronic payment is already a starting point of this process, next the utilizing of this opportunity for providing access to both payment and financial services which in turn affect they economic development of the country. Meanwhile, being aware on the role and importance of structural reforms, the Bank of Albania will continue to contribute – through advises and attention on public interest – in their progress. I believe that these reforms will boost productivity, unlock growth potential and build on the premises for a rather fair distribution of their results to the society. 4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  The forth priority is the support to European integration. Even though the opening and speed of this process will depend, on a large extent by our European partners, our task as an Albanian authority is to proceed with neither delay nor hesitation.

On this occasion, the deficit doubled within three years, while the exchange rate appreciated once again. That country was the United States and the references are to episodes when the deficit grew rapidly in the early 1980s and again at the turn of the 1990s. And some observers detect signs today of a similar replay beginning. To be fair, however, it should be noted that the dollar tended to remain as firm during the years of deficit reduction in the late 1990s as it had when the deficit was rising in the early 1980s, and that, on balance, there may not be a very clear long-term relationship in either direction between the US deficit and the dollar exchange rate. But at least the US experience warns us against presuming there to be an automatic negative causation flowing from the one to the other. The relationship between fiscal and monetary policies It may be worthwhile examining more generally certain aspects of the relationship between fiscal policy and monetary policy. The economy can be characterised as comprising any number of different sectors. At the highest level of aggregation the classification is usually the public sector, the corporate sector, the household sector and the overseas sector (the counterpart to the external balance of payments).
Andrew G Haldane: Towards a common financial language1 Speech by Mr Andrew G Haldane, Executive Director, Financial Stability, Bank of England, at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) “Building a Global Legal Entity Identifier Framework” Symposium, New York, 14 March 2012. *  *  *  The views are not necessarily those of the Bank of England or the Financial Policy Committee. We would like to thank Alan Ball, Peter Davies, Priya Kothari and Colin Miles for comments and contributions. In the first book of the Old Testament, God punishes the builders of the Tower of Babel for their folly. The choice of punishment is revealing. God replaces the Earth’s then-common language with multiple tongues. The costs of that original sin are still being felt. Today, there are nearly 7000 languages spoken globally across fewer than 300 nation states. Linguistic diversity has of course cultural benefits. But this comes at some considerable economic cost. A common language has been found to increase dramatically bilateral trade between countries, by more than 40%.2 It has been found to increase bilateral investment between two countries by a factor of three or more.3 In Iceland at the start of the century as much as 3% of annual GDP was, quite literally, lost in translation.4 Finance today faces a similar dilemma. It, too, has no common language for communicating financial information. Most financial firms have competing in-house languages, with information systems silo-ed by business line.

At the end of discussions, the Supervisory Council decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged, at 3.75%. The outlook of economic and financial developments inside and outside Albania establishes the continuation of an accommodating monetary conditions cycle over the monetary policy-relevant horizon. This policy establishes the proper conditions to meet the inflation target in the medium-term period, contributing at the same time to the growth of aggregate demand and full utilisation of production capacities in the economy. In its meeting today, the Supervisory Council decided to amend some regulations relating to banking system activity. These amendments strengthen the monetary policy transmission mechanism and establish better conditions to boost lending. They harmonize well with the easing monetary policy and help stimulate economic activity in Albania. More specifically, the approved amendments increase the level of liquidity allowed for banks' use and provide the banking system with greater room to use the financial leverage. Both these initiatives provide a direct impact on a faster growth of lending to the economy. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches
Jan F Qvigstad: Contribution at the conference on “Welfare effects of financial innovation” Comments by Mr Jan F Qvigstad, Deputy Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), on Mr Frank Smets (ECB) paper “Financial markets – productivity, procyclicality, and policy”, at the Netherlands Bank conference in honour of Mr Nout Wellink on “Welfare effects of financial innovation”, Amsterdam, 11 November 2011. *  *  *  I would like to thank Birger Vikøren, Sigbjørn Atle Berg and Helle Snellingen for useful comments. Thank you for inviting me and giving me the opportunity to comment on Frank’s paper. The common starting point of the literature is that the value of financial markets lies in their contribution to real economic growth. This is the perspective we always need to have for any meaningful discussion of the social value of financial markets. A well developed financial market is not a goal in its own right. During my 30 years of service in the Treasury and the central bank, I have had my fair share of dealings with banking and financial crises. I will draw on some of that experience in my comments today as part of my modest contribution to this distinguished group. In the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse the funding situation for banks became difficult, also for Norway with its oil-driven economy. Early in 2009 a swap arrangement was introduced to improve the medium-term funding situation for our banks.

When making that assessment, we have to take into account that Iceland’s recession was the result  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  of two stories: the macroeconomic boom-bust cycle in a small, open, and financially integrated economy, and the rise and collapse of three cross-border banks operating on the basis of EU legislation. The first is familiar, and Iceland was already on its way into a recession as a result of it when the banks collapsed. The second was unique at the time, as it occurred during the first international financial crisis since the birth of the EU single market. Iceland lost around 12% of GDP from peak to trough during the recession. But the recovery began in the middle of 2010, and the Central Bank forecast from February is that Iceland’s economy will grow by just over 2% this year. The recovery has already reduced the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from over 9% at the peak to around 4½%. New banks, smaller and domestically oriented, have been rebuilt. But there are still significant legacy issues and challenges, including capital controls and inflation expectations well above target. Source: Philippon (2008): The Evolution of the US Financial Industry from 1860–2007. Source: Philippon and Reshef (2008): Wages and Human Capital in the US Financial Industry 1909–2006. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  Before I close, let me expand my scope again and say a few words about possible broad long-term future trends regarding the relative size and importance of the financial sector.
The Bank’s contribution must necessarily be a longrun contribution. The Bank does not itself produce goods and services, but it should, by creating the right monetary conditions enable the country…” to do so. What Exter repeatedly maintained was the Central Bank was only a necessary condition for future prosperity. That necessary condition was to be created by maintaining price stability so that the economic agents could make economic decisions based on long-run economic prospects. Since the Central bank does not produce goods and services, it cannot directly get involved in economic activities. It is, therefore, the task of the government and the private sector to take appropriate measures to create wealth in the society. The only weapon of the Central Bank is to print money and such money, by changing the price levels, acts only as an illusion. Hence, Exter thought it necessary to warn those who had been advocating the Keynesian type of ideology to raise government expenditure through printed money. In the Exter Report, he argued that higher income created through money creation would simply stimulate consumption of imported goods and precipitate serious balance of payments difficulties. A similar view has been expressed by Dr Goh Keng Swee, economic architect of Singapore, when he clarified why Singapore chose a currency board system in preference to a central bank. He says that none of his Cabinet colleagues “believed that Keynesian economic policies could serve as Singapore’s guide to economic well-being”.

However, to the credit of Exter, many safeguards, checks and balances were added to the law establishing the central  2  BIS Review 92/2007  bank to prevent such undisciplined monetary management by the new central bank. The absence of even a single episode of hyper-inflation or crises of monetary nature during the past 57 years of existence of the central bank is testimony to the efficacy of these measures added to the law. The role of the new central bank The mandate given to Exter was, inter alia, to “report on the organization and functions of a Reserve Bank with a view to ensuring, within the limits of monetary action, full employment of the economic resources of the country, and, if need be, on the promotion of supplemental credit institutions in furtherance of this policy…”. The mandate itself had recognized that the central bank should facilitate economic development “within the limits of monetary action”. This meant that, though short-term economic stimuli could be provided by raising money and credit, the bank should not do that, since it leads to the abandonment of price stability. Any stimulus to be provided by the central bank should, therefore, be practised cautiously and with due regard to its impact on price stability. While emphasizing on the importance of money and credit on an economy, Exter referred to this as “stable money which is essential to performance under contracts and to the equitable liquidation of debt”.