samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
So, as long as New York City keeps adding jobs at such a brisk pace, Fairfield County will benefit. In addition, research indicates that a strong central city is critical for the well-being of its suburbs, meaning that a healthy and growing New York City economy is critically important to Fairfield County. What else can the region do to foster economic growth going forward? It certainly helps for cities like Bridgeport and Stamford to be attractive locations for businesses to locate and grow. It is also important to focus on quality of life issues that make people want to live here – like good schools and low crime, and also amenities ranging from nice parks to good restaurants. Bridgeport has clearly been making progress in this regard, both along the waterfront at Steelpointe Harbor and along Main Street. With New York City’s large and booming economy nearby, and Metro North providing a convenient mass transit link, anything that makes people more inclined to live here – and perhaps even set up shop here – is bound to boost the local economy. And finally, one of the most important ingredients for a healthy urban economy is a well-trained and motivated work force. It cannot be overstated how important it is to help provide residents with the skills and tools they need to be productive and successful, so that they can realize their full potential.

There are still a sizable number of properties that are either in foreclosure or up for foreclosure sale, which has weighed down the local housing market. Yet, Fairfield County has not been the only place in the metro region to see a sluggish recovery – notably, both northern New Jersey and the Mid-Hudson Valley have yet to see employment return to their pre-recession peaks. This picture is in contrast with New York City’s economic performance, which has been exceptionally strong throughout this expansion, and has been a driver of growth for the whole tri-state region. Why is New York City seeing so much stronger job growth than Fairfield County? After all, it wasn’t so long ago that Stamford was attracting finance-sector jobs away from Manhattan. The answer lies in a mix of cyclical and secular trends. On the cyclical side, while finance employment has been sluggish in both New York City and Fairfield County, New York City is benefiting from strong employment gains in technology, construction, retailing and advertising – sectors that are not contributing to the same degree in Fairfield County. In addition, Stamford has had to deal with the relocations of UBS and RBS, while Fairfield faces the prospective relocation of GE. One potential long-term trend that is likely affecting the region is a renewed urbanization: that is, a gradual but broad-based shift of preferences to urban living, especially for younger generations. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, we saw a steady and widespread migration from cities to suburbs.
This subject is being given a high priority in the State's plans which envisage expansion in the establishment of more universities, specialized colleges, training centers and encouraging the private sector to  BIS Review 150/2007  3  contribute to the effort in that direction. Notable progress has been made in providing most government jobs to Saudis. A major achievement of the Saudi Banking system has been in areas of human resources, where banks have continued to increase the use of Saudi citizens. I am therefore pleased to note that in this regard the Banking sector is ahead of all other industrial sectors and currently a level of about 80 percent Saudization has been achieved. The employment of Saudis at senior executive level has reached 70 percent. However, one of the most important challenges currently facing the financial sector is the great increase in the need for qualified skills due to the expansion by banks in their business and establishment of financial services institutions and insurance companies and insurance related services and free professions. This will result in a great pressure on available technical skills in these fields. This has been noted recently in the high rise in the wages for such specialized skills and competition by financial institutions to attract such skills. I hope that exaggeration in this competition will not increase the rotation of the manpower in this sector in a manner that would affect work in its institutions.

Heng Swee Keat: Monetary Authority of Singapore’s initiative to develop Singapore dollar sovereign-rated sukuks Speech by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the 5th Annual Islamic Financial Services Board Summit, Amman, Jordan, 13 May 2008. *  *  *  Introduction It is my honour this afternoon to join my IFSB colleagues in discussion of this very current topic. I am very glad that we are addressing this issue of regional integration of Islamic Financial Services at this point. This is very timely and relevant to both the soundness and vibrancy of Islamic Finance. Let me explain. The global Islamic finance industry has grown rapidly – it is estimated that total assets are now over $ billion. This is impressive. Still, this is a small proportion of conventional finance. The potential for growth is hence very large. While each country is taking measures to promote Islamic Finance, we can grow much faster as well as increase the scope and depth of the industry if we work towards integration at an early stage. Integration increases market size, efficiency and liquidity. This in turn provides for more competitive cost of capital, spurring further growth. Second, having service providers from different regions allow risks to be distributed across a wider group of players, and can improve the overall stability of the financial system. Regional integration between Middle East and Asia, which may have different business cycles, provides a cushion for financial institutions and investors from country specific shocks.
The large volumes implied by the cut in reserve ratios and the potential impact on the exchange rate call for a gradual approach to this process, possibly spanning one year to one year and a half, which is yet another reason why ERM II entry in 2016 and hence euro adoption in 2019 are highly ambitious goals. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  III. The rationale behind other EU Member States’ wait-and-see approach to euro adoption  In fact, Romania is the only non-euro area EU Member State that has set a target date for the adoption of the single currency. The other countries show a prevailing wait-and-see approach, driven not necessarily by the difficulty to observe the limits provided for by the nominal convergence criteria (generally achieved or within reach), but rather by a fundamental change in the overall approach to euro adoption. This occurred amid the benefits of euro adoption becoming less obvious and the costs more apparent. I have already pointed out at the beginning of my speech the fading benefits that euro area membership provided in terms of financing costs. Additionally, the benefits of trade integration, previously deemed as irrefutable, have been drastically diminished by the weak euro area growth. As for the costs of euro adoption, Central and Eastern European economies with floating currencies went through relatively milder economic contractions than those with fixed exchange rate regimes, which highlighted the relevance of this element of policy flexibility.

5/19/2020  Pandemic central banking: the monetary stance, market stabilisation and liquidity  SPEECH  Pandemic central banking: the monetary stance, market stabilisation and liquidity         Remarks by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability Policy Webinar, 19 May 2020 19 May 2020 In my recent blog post, I described the range of scenarios that have been developed by ECB staff to support the analysis of the near-term and medium-term macroeconomic dynamics in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. [1],[2] I also explained the current monetary policy of the ECB and outlined our approach to setting the future course of monetary policy. My remarks today aim to reinforce these points by presenting some additional empirical evidence. Macroeconomic outlook Chart 1 shows the three scenarios developed by ECB staff that were published on 1 May. Since then, the Eurosystem staff have continued to track the incoming information (both the economic data and the public health data): the forthcoming June Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections will provide an updated assessment of the economic outlook. Still, the 1 May scenarios provide an excellent framework for understanding the environment facing policymakers. In all scenarios, the current quarter represents the trough of the crisis, with a cumulative decline in the range of 10 to 20 percent of GDP since the start of the year.
Since inception, the annual excess return from asset management has amounted to 24 basis points, or 0.24 percent. Given the fund’s current size, the annual excess return after costs is around NOK 20 billion. This is money worth having. The Bank’s investment strategies 1/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  The excess return is a result of hundreds of active decisions made by asset managers. We make such active choices every single day. To be able to safeguard society’s wealth in the best possible way, these choices must be based on a well founded strategy that seeks to benefit from the fund’s defining characteristics. The fund is among the world’s largest and is a global investor. It also has a very long investment horizon and a limited need for liquidity. These are the characteristics that we must try to make the most of to achieve excess returns. The Bank’s investment management organisation has built up unique experience in this work after having managed the fund for over 20 years. The risk in the active part of asset management is diversified across sub-strategies. These substrategies complement one another. This means that the different sub-strategies cannot automatically be assessed in isolation, precisely because they are part of an integrated diversification strategy. Chart: Contribution to relative return by strategy This table shows relative return by main strategies in the period between 2013 and 2019. It illustrates how the different strategies have influenced excess return from our management of the fund.

This is an area where active choices must be made. We look at the choice of external asset managers as an investment decision. Since 1998, we have invested through 319 different external active equity managers. To retain their mandates, they must show over time that they can identify profitable investments. They must also take responsible investment into account. The fund’s size and breadth enable us to follow up the external asset managers systematically over time. Internally, we employ portfolio managers who perform their own analyses and monitor the external asset managers’ portfolios. All aspects of the activities of these managers are evaluated to ensure that they meet our requirements and expectations. Chart: Net relative return. External asset managers We get back much more from external asset managers than we have paid for their services. In the period to 2019, cumulative excess return after costs associated with external mandates has 4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  been NOK 48 billion. The results have exceeded expectations. At the same time, these investments spread the fund’s risk across more markets. External asset managers also help the fund to steer clear of problematic business models and companies and sectors with weak ownership structures. It would have been difficult to achieve without local knowledge. The Executive Board intends to raise the limit for the external management mandates to 5 percent of the fund next year. Conclusion The fund has become larger than anyone could have imagined only a few years ago.
At the end of last year, foreign holdings of onshore equities had more than tripled and foreign holdings of onshore bonds had more than doubled in just three years. Following a strong 2021, foreign equity and bond inflows into onshore markets have softened a bit this year on the back of COVID lockdowns in the Mainland and the divergence in monetary policy between China and the US that led to a reversal of the onshore bond yield premium. But these short-term fluctuations will not reverse the long-term trend of foreign investment in Mainland capital markets. 10. In fact, several key drivers continue to strengthen global investors’ interest in diversifying into RMB assets over the medium to long term. These include continued inclusion of onshore equities and bonds into major global indices; China’s long-term economic growth prospects; increasing recognition of the RMB as a stable reserve currency; and a lower correlation between RMB assets and other global financial market assets. 11. These factors will pave the way for a structural and long-term shift, which will motivate global investors to think more strategically about their exposure to China. This, in turn, will spur demand for RMB assets and facilitate the further opening up of the Mainland capital markets in a self-reinforcing cycle. 12. Against this background, Hong Kong must seize the opportunity to contribute to the two-way liberalisation of the financial markets by developing a deep and liquid offshore RMB market in the city.

Earlier this month, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced three new initiatives to strengthen mutual access between Mainland and Hong Kong financial markets. These are, first, broadening the scope of Stock Connect to include foreign companies with primary listings in Hong Kong and more companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges; second, development of an RMB- securities trading counter in Hong Kong and possible inclusion of RMB securities in Southbound Trading via Stock Connect; and third, the introduction of Mainland government bond futures in Hong Kong. These measures will enrich the investment choices for Mainland investors, attract more foreign companies to list in Hong Kong, and provide more offshore risk management tools to meet global investors’ hedging needs. Apart from the expansion of the Connect Scheme, in July this year, the HKMA’s currency swap agreement with the People’s Bank of China was also increased from RMB500 billion to RMB800 billion and made permanent. Following this change, Hong Kong’s facility is the largest of any jurisdiction and the only one that is not subject to renewal, giving us an effective liquidity back-stop to support the development of the offshore RMB market in Hong Kong. Also in July, the HKMA enhanced the operational flexibility, size and repo rates of its RMB Liquidity Facility. The changes will make it easier for banks to provide services to clients and other offshore centres in different time zones.
In particular, it gets the balance right between protecting policyholders and allowing insurers to invest for the long-term in ways that support the UK economy. Design flaws in the risk margin, however, remain a problem. Finally, I will raise some particular issues facing insurers active in this market, including ‘fallen angels’, internal ratings, equity release mortgages and risks from climate change. Risk and regulation of annuity business Moving defined benefit pensions from employers to insurers can certainly be a good thing. For pensioners, it safeguards future pension benefits. For companies, it releases them from pension risks allowing them to focus on their core businesses, potentially raising levels of investment and productivity. From my perspective as the prudential regulator of UK insurers, taking on significant promises to pay pensions over several decades does though bring risks that insurers need to manage effectively and against which they need to hold appropriate reserves and capital. Protecting annuities on which pensioners rely for their livelihoods is clearly important. 2 In a buy out, the promises to pension fund members are transferred fully from a pension fund and employer to an insurer. In a buy in, an insurer agrees to pay to a pension fund a stream of income matching some or all of its pension liabilities. In a longevity swap, an insurer protects a pension fund against the risk that its longevity experience turns out to be different to expected. 3 Source: The pensions landscape: Defined benefit pensions 2018, The Pensions Regulator.

Of course, risk management should help us reduce the frequency and size of negative events and then recover more quickly and effectively when negative events occur. But, risk management, in my view, should also help the right things happen by giving us tools to work more effectively.2 Innovation is an essential tool to manage risks, because not changing can be riskier than changing. For example, an incredibly powerful risk management activity is to transform a slow, manual process that often fails into a fast, efficient, automated process that can self-correct when there is a problem. Clearly, it is just as important to understand the risk of not doing something as it is to understand the risk of doing something. And, when we understand our risk appetite and our risks, we can comfortably conduct controlled experiments, learn faster, and innovate. We're no longer driving in the dark; we're getting where we want to go with headlights on, and we can stay inside the guardrails and not skid off the road. Second, risk management could be misunderstood as primarily the responsibility of risk management specialists. Actually, effective risk management is a way for everyone in an organization to help things go right. From the economic analysts to the cash processing operators to the software engineers, we can make better plans, decisions, and actions when we are prepared for change and have the capacity to adapt to surprises.
Jessica Chew Cheng Lian: Leveraging remittances for sustainable development goals - a call to action Keynote address by Ms Jessica Chew Cheng Lian, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development 2018 Asia Pacific "Leveraging Remittances for Sustainable Development Goals: A Call to Action", Kuala Lumpur, 8 May 2018. * * * It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Kuala Lumpur and the Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development 2018 Asia Pacific. We host many regional and global events here in this building. From time to time, we are reminded at these events that not all challenges are created equal. Some challenges inspire hope for the improvement of countless lives beyond our own borders, and create not just opportunities but a need for us to come together across social, economic and cultural boundaries to advance the development agenda. This Forum is such an occasion and Bank Negara Malaysia is honoured to be among partners who are working together to build a better future for economic migrants the world over. Beyond remittances: Migration and economic unfreedom To provide some context for the discussions that will follow over the coming days, it seemed fitting to draw on the work of Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen nearly two decades ago. In his magnum opus “Development as Freedom”, Sen described how a particular childhood incident shaped his views on the concept of development.

21.10.2020  Opening remarks XIX Germán Bernácer Prize Ceremony at the Banco de España Pablo Hernández de Cos Governor  Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all, and to introduce this Award Ceremony for the 19th Germán Bernácer Prize. I would like to start by thanking Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank and Chairman of the Selection Committee of this award, for his contribution to this initiative. Luis, we are greatly honoured by your presence at this ceremony. Let me also thank The Observatory of the European Central Bank – chaired by Guillermo de la Dehesa – and the sponsors, represented here by Luis Isasi, President of Banco Santander España. As you know, the prize is named after Germán Bernácer, a prominent Spanish macroeconomist with deep knowledge of monetary theory, who became Head of the Servicio de Estudios of the Banco de España in 1930. The Bernácer prize recognises outstanding scientific research by young economists under 40 from the euro zone, and our institution has been a strong supporter of this award since its inception in 2001. On this occasion, I am glad to congratulate the winner of the 19th Prize edition, Mr. Loukas Karabarbounis. He is a Professor of Economics at the University of Minnesota, a Consultant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Fiscal policy, too, has played a very big part, helping to spread the cost of this large shock over time, because otherwise the cost to the public and the country would be unbearable. When I step back from all of this, I think the strong logic is that we are using the tools of counter-cyclical policy, consistent with the remit in the Bank’s case, to support the economy as best as possible through this unprecedented shock. But I sometimes hear that the Bank has flouted the rules and thereby damaged its independence, by purchasing government debt and lowering the government’s cost of borrowing. In many ways, I am glad that central bank independence is being vigilantly scrutinised. This is an important aspect of the Bank’s public accountability. But I’m sorry to have to be blunt, I’m afraid these arguments are entirely without merit. In a world where the Government has to manage the task of spreading the cost of the pandemic which would otherwise fall on individuals at great cost to them, and the central bank is acting counter-cyclically to support demand in the economy consistent with its inflation target, it is hardly surprising, and indeed consistent, that the Government should be able to benefit from those financing conditions. If the situation was otherwise, and the central bank acted to prevent counter-cyclical policy taking effect, we would be abandoning the remit on which our operational independence is based. Put another way, to be independent does not mean to be disorganised.

For those who might be concerned about the change, let me reassure you that the new polymer notes will retain the familiar look of Bank of England banknotes, including of course the portrait of Her Majesty the Queen, as well as depictions of historical characters of national significance. That continuity of design helps explain why people who have had a chance to handle specimen notes were even more likely to view polymer favourably. The depiction of historical characters will remain an integral feature of our banknotes, providing an opportunity to celebrate individuals that have shaped the United Kingdom. In  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  order to ensure public confidence in banknotes, it is essential that the choice of characters commands broad public respect and legitimacy. That is why in July, at the same time as announcing that Jane Austen would feature on the new £ note, I promised that we would review the way in which the characters featured on banknotes are selected. Today we are announcing a new set of principles to guide the choice of characters and a new process to ensure that those principles are, and are seen to be, followed. The new principles for character selection state clearly and positively the Bank’s aims in using historic characters on our notes. They put diversity and inclusivity at the heart of the selection criteria. And they make clear our intention to portray a diverse range of characters over time, with each new decision taking into account previous choices.