samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
7  See, for example, Genre, V., R. Gomez-Salvador and A. Lamo (2005): “European Women: Why do(n’t) they work”, ECB Working Paper Series, No 454, March 2005. 8  See Anthony Annett (2006) “Lessons from successful labour market reformers in Europe” IMF euro area policies: selected issues, August 2006. 4  BIS Review 82/2007  Increasing competition What all these countries also have in common is a significant reduction of product market regulation. This leads to the second prerequisite for higher medium to long-term growth: increasing competition towards establishing efficient and well-functioning product markets. Most studies point to the potential that improving competition has to increase employment in the medium and long run, and to boost productivity trends by improving production efficiency and by enhancing the incentive to invest and innovate 9 . In the EU, some progress has been made in this regard. For example, several network industries, like telecommunications, are now fully or largely open to competition and the hourly labour productivity in this particular sector significantly accelerated from 4.9% to 8.4% over the periods 1980-1995 and 1996-2004 By comparison in the US, hourly labour productivity grew by 3.4% and 4.4% over the same periods in the telecommunication sectors. A lot remains to be done, however: the extension and deepening of the EU internal market remains a priority in particular as regards further financial market integration, the pursuit of effective competition in the energy market and the implementation of the Services Directive. Member States have the primary responsibility for these tasks.

In conclusion, allow me to say that the Bank of Albania is in the process of perfecting the supervision regulatory framework, in the context of its cooperation with the European System of Central Banks. However, full and timely respect of legal and regulatory framework requirements on operational capitalisation and liquidity, as well as bank’s overall operational risk management methodology will continue to be an ongoing supervision priority. This process is oriented by the common objective to maintain banking and financial systems stability. The Bank of Albania remains committed to cooperate with the banking sector to achieve successfully this objective. As in previous years, the Bank of Albania will make the appropriate decisions to ensure that its fundamental objectives to maintain price and banking sector stability are constantly accomplished for the country’s stable growth in the long run. Thanking you for your valuable work, I wish you a New Year full of successes in your work and happiness in your families! Thank you! BIS central bankers’ speeches  3
In closing, I would like to wish all of you successful and fruitful discussions during this two-day conference. I hope that the speakers and participants will reflect upon what Thailand has done right and what we can do more for the Thai economy. In particular, I believe it is equally important for the private sector, as much as the public sector, to play the role in strengthening Thailand’s long-term economic fundamentals, especially the priority areas I mentioned. Having done some of the right things does not mean that we can be complacent, since the economic challenges will not get any easier in the current and future global environment. Thank you. 4  BIS Review 94/2010

Most of the time, they are driven by rapid inflows and outflows of capital. We still vividly remember the crises in Mexico, Asia, Russia and Argentina. Obviously, these crises have not been restricted to the financial sector, but have had a profound impact on the real economy as well. The lifting of restrictions to cross-border holding and trading of financial assets has unleashed massive capital flows. According to World Bank figures, global debt and equity flows (excluding foreign direct 2 investment) expanded by more than five times since 1991, from USD 794 billion to USD 4.3 trillion . Without doubt, this development reflects a long-term trend. More and more investors decide globally and on the basis of risk-adjusted expected returns. Taking place in a system of increasingly integrated capital markets, capital allocation has become more efficient. The other side of the coin, however, is the increased volatility on financial markets. Indeed, portfolio investments, in particular those in markets with relatively high liquidity, have become more erratic, as fund injections and withdrawals respond very quickly to new information. According to the IMF, assets managed by institutional investors on mature markets are estimated at about USD 30 trillion in 1998. Thus, any shift in such a huge portfolio is very likely to exacerbate economic cycles and will possibly lead to contagion among financial markets. The impact of portfolio re-balancing will be all the more powerful as macroeconomic policies seem to be unsustainable and as financial institutions show fundamental weaknesses, often with regard to financial strength, supervision and transparency.
It’s time to talk about money Speech given by Sir Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor Financial Stability, Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Member of the Financial Policy Committee and Member of the Prudential Regulation Committee  London School of Economics, London 28 February 2020  I am grateful to Alex Michie for his assistance in drafting these remarks and Ben Dyson, John Jackson, Josh Sadler, Tom Mutton, Alice Carr, Emma Sinclair, Ryland Thomas, Michaela Costello, Chris Ford, Simon Scorer, Justin Jacobs, Wayne Chapman, Samantha Riley and the Bank’s Archivists for their input. 1  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  Intro One of the questions that I find hardest to answer simply is “what does the Bank of England do?” I get asked this penetrating question a lot, especially by children when I visit schools as part of the Bank’s outreach and education programme – which incidentally is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. There is a long, comprehensive and accurate answer of course, describing our monetary policy and financial stability objectives, policies and actions and our role in demand management. When I talk to economics classes in schools, I can often feel their teachers willing me to come out with these textbook answers. But I find that the better and simpler answer is that we are responsible for ensuring that the money of the United Kingdom ‘works’. Money, like electricity and water, is crucial to the operation of a modern society.

Therein lies our biggest challenge. Prices for services have been rising at a fast rate as the economy has recovered from the recession. In particular, rents for new leases have climbed rapidly. And labor shortages are everywhere, leading to higher labor costs. Indeed, inflation pressures have become broad-based across a wide range of goods and services. Good News and Bad News What does the future hold? I will start with some good news. First, prices of many commodities, such as lumber, are in retreat. Absent further supply disruptions, I expect slowing global growth, in part reflecting tighter monetary policy here and abroad, will continue to reduce demand for these products. This should put downward pressure on commodity prices and help ease inflationary pressures, especially for goods and services that are heavily reliant on commodity inputs. Second, we have seen significant improvement in global supply chains, and I expect this to continue. At the New York Fed, economists have developed the Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, which measures the extent of global supply-chain disruptions by summarizing a variety of data, including reported delivery lags and the costs of transporting goods. The Index soared to unprecedented levels late last year but has  2/5  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  now reversed about two thirds of its rise. Although significant supply-chain problems are still affecting some industries, such as autos, improvements in supply should help ease supply-demand imbalances and result in lower prices for affected products. 3 Unfortunately, that's it for the good news on inflation.
The average American with a college degree earns twice as much as his neighbor without a college education, which is about twice the premium that existed 40 years ago. Improving access to educational opportunity for all our citizens, regardless of race or the economic fortune of their parents, is critical to the credibility of the American ideal of equality of economic opportunity. As Larry Summers has noted, In our country today, a student whose parents are among the richest quartile of American is six times more likely than one from the poorest quartile to graduate with a B.A. within five years of leaving high school. And improving the capacity of our present and future tax payers to make informed judgments about economic policy is important to improving the quality of policy decisions by our elected officials, national and locally. This is vital in an era where we face tremendous challenges in bringing our commitments and resources closer to balance. Improving educational achievement, access to educational opportunity, and the level of public sophistication on economic issues are critical challenges with high returns to progress. This is why we will continue to invest in educational programs and why we are pleased to work closely with organizations as effective as the NAF in this noble cause. 1/2  I take some comfort in the fact that, when NAF students think of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, they know we have an important role in monetary policy and financial stability.

Timothy F Geithner: The Fed Challenge Remarks by Mr Timothy F Geithner, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the National Academy Foundation’s 2004 Dinner, New York, 8 December 2004. *  *  *  Thank you, Gene, for that generous introduction. It is a pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate the National Academy Foundation and all of your contributions to this important mission. I am very pleased to accept this award on behalf of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I want to compliment Sandy Weill on his commitment to education and the achievements of the NAF. And I want to recognize three important people from the New York Fed who are responsible for the Fed Challenge: Steve Malin, Lloyd Bromberg and Bob Diamant. Among these and other contributions to public service, Sandy serves as a member of the board of directors of the New York Fed. I want to tell you his reaction to a presentation early this year on our work in financial education. Sandy listened carefully to the description of the full array of New York Fed programs. Then, in his typically tentative and understated way, with the same soft approach he brought to building one of the most formidable financial institutions in the world, asked why the Bank didn’t limit its role in education to simply supporting the National Academy Foundation.
And if it happens again we will again risk destabilising international financial crises. From the other side, in the absence of mutual trust, there will be increasing pressure to break up the global capital market. Regulators and supervisors who cannot trust the implementation of standards in other jurisdictions will defend stability in their own jurisdictions by raising barriers. Ring-fencing of capital and liquidity, non-recognition of foreign firms, restrictions on activities and extra territorial rules are just some examples of what can happen. Such action minimises the risk of international crises. But the cost is the rolling back of financial globalisation with less effective and efficient intermediation of global savings. So without mutual trust, the danger is either slipping back into weak regulation and supervision and regulatory arbitrage risking further crises or fragmentation of the international financial sector – a rolling back of financial globalisation that will damage global growth. Mutual trust will not be easily achieved. It will require more than hope and faith in our fellow man. Perhaps one day it can be founded on international law and treaty. Until then, however, it has to be built on the institutions and machinery established by those initial G20 meetings in Washington, London and Pittsburgh in 2008 and 2009. And in particular, on the work by the Financial Stability Board and the IMF. 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  The Financial Stability Board has already established peer review mechanisms to assess implementation in its members.

Third, getting a handle on – and where necessary – regulating, the risks in the so called “shadow banking” system: the ecosystem of non-bank financial firms that perform a similar role in credit intermediation to that played by the banking sector. And fourth, and perhaps most important, making sure that no institution, no matter how large, how complex, how international in its activities or to put it simply, no matter how systemic, is “too big to be allowed to fail”. Because if financial institutions can make themselves too big to fail, if they can ensure that if and when they get into trouble the taxpayer will have no option but to bail them out if, as the economists put it, they can ensure that their profits and their pay are private but if it all goes wrong the losses are “socialised” then history teaches us that this is exactly what they will do. III. What has been achieved? So, in these four key areas, what has been achieved? The inputs have certainly been impressive. From a standing start in 2009 the Financial Stability Board has driven the regulatory reform programme. Under the FSB, around 25 groups have been set up to run around 15 major workstreams.
Further, as a means of recognising the processes of financial innovation, consideration should be given to the adoption of a more flexible treatment of the characteristics of the so-called innovative instruments in tier 1, which are basically preferential equity holdings with a step-up in remuneration after 10 years, not currently accepted as tier 1 capital by the Banco de España. This option should, in any event, be accompanied by a decrease in the weight of preferential equity holdings from the present 30% to 15%, in order to heighten the importance of the basic components of tier 1 capital, namely ordinary shares and reserves. Moving on to regulatory developments, 2004 was a particularly eventful and, to tell the truth, difficult and complex year. It saw two projects with a direct impact on credit institutions: the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and the New Capital Accord, or Basel II. The European Union decided that from January 2005 the consolidated accounts of groups with securities quoted on any regulated market in the EU have to be prepared using international accounting standards (IAS). Its aim in doing this was to assist the growing integration of the European single market by ensuring that investors have access to financial information with the highest possible level of homogeneity. In addition, the international financial system is strengthened, since the plurinational nature of IAS facilitates the convergence of these standards with those of the US.

Caleb M Fundanga: Strengthening and promoting the Zambian private sector Speech by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the Celtel Loan Signing Ceremony, Lusaka, 12 December 2006. *  *  *  Managing Director, Celtel Zambia plc Senior Government officials present Chief Executives Officers of commercial banks and other financial institutions present Management and staff of Celtel Zambia plc Members of the Press Distinguished invited guests Ladies and gentlemen It gives me great pleasure to join you today at this celebratory event for the Celtel Zambia plc USD105 million 5-year, two-tranche, local and foreign currency syndicated term loan facility. Undoubtedly this event marks a high-point for all those working at strengthening and promoting the Zambian private sector. In this regard, this event clearly unveils and in so doing reveals the hitherto relatively unknown sophistication and ability of the Zambian private sector and surely the coming of age of our nascent banking and financial services sector. Ladies and gentlemen, it is gratifying to observe that the facility we are celebrating today was initially launched as a USD70 million facility but was subsequently raised to USD105 million following significant oversubscription. It is equally gratifying that of the USD105 million, USD86 million or 82 per cent was raised in Zambian Kwacha primarily from Zambian commercial banks with some participation from international development finance institutions. This is a demonstration of the growing confidence in both Zambian corporate borrowers and business climate by both domestic and international banks.
If wage formation places a lot of focus on the current level of CPI inflation, I see a risk that this could create instability in the wage formation system. A situation similar to the one in the 1970s and 80s could then ultimately occur, whereby wage developments varied substantially from year to year depending on the current inflation rate, which also varied extensively. It would therefore be better if wage formation were based on a less volatile inflation measure than CPI inflation.13 A new monetary policy target variable could hopefully take on that role. A band surrounding the target When the General Council of the Riksbank decided to introduce an inflation target of 2 per cent in January 1993, it also decided that there should be a tolerance band surrounding this target of 1 percentage point both above and below.14 The aim was to clarify that the Riksbank does not have the ability to control inflation exactly in the short term, but that it also aims to limit deviations from the target – that it does not intend to “tolerate” deviations greater than 1 percentage point. The size of the interval was determined by what intuitively appeared to be reasonable. It was not possible to rely on any past experience as the monetary policy regime was entirely new and inflation had varied considerably during the old regime which had a fixed exchange rate. The Riksbank expected that inflation would now vary less, but was unsure as to how much.

Moreover, bilateral agreements may promote an asymmetrical system of international relations in which the most influential countries ultimately impose their priorities and demands on the rest. In the financial arena, the difficulties of reforming IMF governance and the perception that its resources might be insufficient in the event of a severe crisis have led regional financial agreements to proliferate. There has been a shift from a multilateral system to one more decentralised and fragmented. In this new system of global financial governance, we must acknowledge that regionalism and multilateralism can be compatible, as some problems are regional and are better resolved at that level. Indeed, regionalism and multilateralism are not mutually exclusive; rather, they can support and complement one another, generating synergies that strengthen the global financial safety net. In this connection, coordination among the different elements should be reinforced, departing from the basis that a regional system can complement, but not replace, that of the IMF. In this respect, I believe the IMF continues to play an essential role for several reasons. First, because of its unique experience and knowledge of crisis-management. Second, because the IMF’s participation in the design of adjustment programmes provides an objective perspective that regional institutions may occasionally not offer and which, moreover, is respected both by national authorities and by the private sector. Third, because in the case of interconnected economies, the IMF’s participation can dissipate the potential regional concentration of risks.
In the euro area, the cumulated output loss from the second quarter of 2008 (when growth turned negative)  1  The total potential writedowns on the assets of global financial institutions (including banks pension funds, insurance companies and hedge funds) over the period 2007-2010 have been estimated at USD 4.1 trillion, of which about two thirds (USD 2.8 trillion) are expected to be borne by banks (see International Monetary Fund (2009)). These estimates, which include future potential writedowns until the end of 2010, are based on a number of projections of future economic activity and assumptions about asset market developments, and estimates of the likely impairment charges on loans. They are, therefore, subject to a substantial margin of error. 2  Figures based on S&P European 350 Index. It should be noted, however, that this index has recovered significantly since March 2009; market capitalisation rose from € trillion on 9 March to € trillion by 26 May 2009. BIS Review 65/2009  1  until the first quarter of this year, amounts to 5% of GDP, which is equivalent to about EUR 400 billion. 3 In order to mitigate the effects of the crisis on the financial sector and the real economy, governments and central banks have taken strong and decisive action. Indeed, in many cases they have implemented measures that are extraordinary in size and scope.

Since summer 2012, Target balances have shrunk by about a third. Spreads on long-term sovereign bonds vis-à-vis Germany have fallen by around 350 to 450 basis points for Spain, Italy and Ireland, and by more than 600 basis points for Portugal. Spreads in corporate debt markets have fallen by more than 150 basis points for some important market segments, and thus have made it easier for firms to raise funds in the market. What challenges are yet to be tackled? Despite these achievements, several challenges remain. Let me focus on three challenges for the ECB. One of them relates to a prolonged period of low inflation. Since the review of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy, which took place in 2003 under the auspices of Otmar Issing, the ECB has aimed at inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. To be sure, current HICP inflation, which stood at 0.8% in January, can clearly not be considered close to 2%. Is this a reason for concern? With the average euro area inflation rate standing at 0.8%, we are clearly not in deflation, which is defined as a self-reinforcing fall in prices that is broad-based across items and across countries. Moreover, inflation expectations for the euro area over the medium to long term continue to be firmly anchored in line with our aim of maintaining inflation rates below, but close to, 2%.