samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Therefore, in the previous years, we have organized numerous work-shops on many current topics, international conferences, and our employees lecture in several faculties in the country. Also, four years ago, we introduced the Annual Reward for Young Researchers, which has proved to be a very successful example, followed by other institutions, as well. Today’s opening of the Joint Public Information Centre is another contribution to the upgrade of the scientific and research profile of the Central Bank, which has been established and developed very hard all these years, in parallel with the operational portfolio of the basic functions of NBRM: determining and implementation of the monetary policy, the banking sector supervision, the financial stability support, ensuring smooth functioning of the payment system, and above all, realization of the ultimate objective of the NBRM’s monetary policy – the price stability. I believe that with the opening of this Center, we open another channel for knowledge dissemination, which will be additional stimulus for the scientific and research activity. I believe that the Center will also serve for further deepening of the NBRM and World Bank cooperation, inter alia, also in the domain of organization of forums and debates on various current topics, as well as in the providing of foreign expertise, comparing the domestic with the international experience. Dear friends, We are glad that this library will join the libraries the American journalist Carl T. Rowan calls “knowledge food”, saying also that “the knowledge has liberated much more people than any war made in the entire history”.

Indeed, in most circumstances, global capital markets are deep and liquid enough – having a sufficiently wide range of participants able to trade with each other, and with different risk appetites and different actual risk exposures – to absorb shocks. But history suggests that strains can appear at times. And as the system develops, we need to be alive to whether cracks might show up in new places or old weaknesses manifest themselves in new ways. 4  BIS Review 50/2005  The two challenges I have sketched out for today’s markets – the incidence, now and then, of structural short option positions amongst short-term traders; and of controls occasionally lagging behind innovations – have a common feature. They both entail understanding markets as something more than the positions of atomistic agents. In the first case, market participants have an interest in factoring into their risk management an assessment of whether a market has structurally imbalanced option (or option-like) positions. In the second case, market participants have an interest in working together to establish robust practices and infrastructure when a particular innovation takes off. Many risk managers are, of course, well seized of this. Let’s hope they are empowered too. As practitioners, you can, and should, play a part in buttressing the system – by continuing to innovate, and by factoring collective outcomes into your private calculus and risk management. BIS Review 50/2005  5
The financial conditions on the Mainland also present, in my opinion, a golden opportunity for the liberalisation of restrictions to facilitate the greater use of Hong Kong’s financial system and for the associated risks to be prudently managed. With nearly $ trillion, the Mainland is now the largest foreign reserve holder in the world: it is running a fairly large balance of payments surplus and its savings rate is probably the highest in the world. There may not be many precedents of any great significance, in the history of economic development in other countries, of having access to two financial systems in one country, and so we need to be cautious, as always, as we venture into something new. Deng Xiaoping, when giving guidance to the drafting of the Basic Law on 16 April 1987, also recognised that "one country, two systems" is "a new thing" and that "there are many matters we cannot predict" 4 . The important thing is to be clear about the principles behind what we are trying to do. The basic principle, as far as the financial system is concerned, has always been very clear, regardless of the characteristics of the political, economic and social systems, and this is the effective mobilisation of savings into the hands of those in need of funds to finance consumption, investment and other economic activities 5 .

Beyond this substantial direct contribution to GDP, the financial sector plays a critical role in intermediating credit for the economy, and in providing other critical financial services to companies and depositors in Singapore. It is therefore important for the whole economy that the financial sector continues to function normally. Should financial institutions in Singapore become less competitive or credit  BIS Review 127/2008  1  become less readily available, it would hinder the financing of economic activities and raise the borrowing costs of businesses. This would aggravate the already challenging economic situation and thereby adversely affect our growth and jobs. Fourth, this financial crisis is not confined to any country or region, but is a global one. Singapore’s guarantee of deposits demonstrates our confidence in the soundness of our financial system, and helps contribute towards restoring confidence in the international financial system. Why the guarantee is sufficient and prudent The deposits of individuals and non-bank customers with banks, finance companies and merchant banks in Singapore amount to about $ billion. In view of MAS’ stringent regulations and close supervision of financial institutions in Singapore, their strong capital and asset positions, and the potential support that foreign institutions in Singapore can avail themselves of where necessary under the government guarantees provided by their home jurisdictions, MAS and the Ministry of Finance have assessed that the backing of $ billion of the Government’s reserves provided to the guarantee would be more than sufficient. Let me explain.
Andrew G Haldane: Unfair shares Remarks by Mr Andrew G Haldane, Executive Director, Financial Stability, Bank of England, at the Bristol Festival of Ideas event, Bristol, 21 May 2014. *  *  *  These are not necessarily the views of the Bank of England, Financial Policy Committee or Monetary Policy Committee. I am grateful to Edd Denbee, Priya Kothari, Varun Paul and Fiona Robinson for comments and contributions  Inequality has become the issue du jour – especially, it seems, when it is expressed in French. Yet until recently, inequality was a deeply unfashionable topic among academics and policymakers. Until the crisis, it is difficult to identify a period in the past 50 years when inequality was close to the top of the public policy or academic agenda (Stiglitz (2012)). The past few years have changed all that. Key milestones include:   The emerging facts. As ever, dispute rages about the precise statistics. But the longterm patterns are clear enough – and remarkable. Almost half of the growth in US national income between 1975 and 2007 accrued to the top 1% (OECD (2014)). In the UK and US, the top 1%’s share of the income pie has more than doubled since 1980 to around 15% and their share of the wealth pie has been estimated at up to a third – more than the whole bottom half of the population put together (ONS (2014), Wolff (2012)).

Dimiter Kostov: The world of finance is becoming more IT Address by Mr Dimiter Kostov, Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, Banking Department and Fiscal Services Department, before the participants in the 14th Financial IT Forum “The World of Finance is Becoming More IT”, Sofia, 19 April 2012. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the Bulgarian National Bank, I have the honour to congratulate you with the opening of the 14th Financial IT Forum. This Forum has established itself as an annual opportunity to share experience and ideas, and to view the prospects opened to the financial sector by the information and communication technologies. These results are undoubtedly owing to the organizers of the event, but what is of no less importance is your interest to it. From the point of view of the business, times are still hard for financial intermediation. In the conditions of volatile international financial markets and an unstable economy, the Bulgarian banking system is coping well with the challenges and remains stable. The levels of capital adequacy and liquidity remain high. Irrespective of the increased impairment costs the banking system continues generating positive results. It is of no little importance, too, that in these conditions the banking system managed to preserve and even to slightly increase its loan portfolio. In the recent three years the economic activity in the country has contracted by about 3 percent, while the loan portfolio not only did not contract, but grew by about 8 percent.
When I joined in 2001, the output gap concept which underlay the MPC’s judgements was a short-run estimate of the difference between the present level of output and full capacity (full capacity was defined as currently employed labour and capital being utilised at normal levels). This implied that there was also a medium-term output gap in which capacity was measured assuming employment was at its natural level. 6 During 2003, the MPC’s thinking moved on to estimate potential output as what would be produced at the natural rate of employment with normal levels of factor utilisation (average hours, labour productivity and capital utilisation all at trend). 7 In 2004, some modification of this concept was introduced in order to account better for the impact of the government sector during a period of rising public spending. The government sector’s impact on aggregate demand is most appropriately assessed by considering the government’s demand for private sector output and the opportunity costs of employing labour in the government, rather than the market sector. During periods of rapidly rising public spending, this tended to increase estimates of the level of activity in the economy, and so reduce the level of spare capacity. 8 A subsequent judgement was made in 2007, to use the NAIRU, or short-term measure of equilibrium unemployment, rather than the longer-term natural rate in assessing present capacity pressures.

Denny H Kalyalya: Zambian financial sector – responding to the needs of business Speech by Dr Denny H Kalyalya, Deputy Governor-Operations of the Bank of Zambia; at the opening of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Solwezi Branch, Solwezi, 10 December 2008. *  *  *  The Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Hon. Felix Mutati The Minister, North-Western Province, Hon. Joseph Mulyata The Chairman of the Board of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia, Mr. George Sokota His Worship the mayor of Solwezi The Managing Director of Standard Chartered Bank, Mrs. Mizinga Melu Distinguished guests Members of the press Ladies and Gentlemen I am pleased to be here at the official opening of the new Solwezi Branch of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Limited. Ladies and Gentlemen, recent times have shown a proliferation of commercial bank branches in areas which had previously been considered unattractive for business. Rural areas had even experienced closures where banks felt that they were unable to establish a case for business. The economic environment that the Government created through the reforms instituted in the early 1990’s has given new confidence to investors and has provided an opportunity for businesses to grow, thereby attracting banks to the areas which were deprived of basic financial services. The opening of this branch today, in a town which has attracted major investments, is a demonstration that the financial sector is indeed, now responding to the needs of business.
The Bank’s capital was also boosted. The main rationale for increasing the reserves and capital was to strengthen the Bank in performing its functions in a much expanded financial sector, and to address comments from rating agencies and others about the Bank’s inadequate foreign liquidity relative to Iceland’s large foreign debts, which are overwhelmingly in the private sector. There was no other motive behind boosting the reserves and the Central Bank has underlined the importance of not creating moral hazard. Unease in the markets lasted until mid-2006, when it calmed down significantly. By then, the króna had depreciated by one-quarter and around mid-year the real exchange rate was close to the twentyfive-year average. In historical terms it was much more normal than in the second half of 2005, i.e. before the depreciation in the first half of last year. This is an important fact to bear in mind, i.e. that the króna depreciated from an unsustainable and far higher real exchange rate than was compatible with external balance of the economy. The change was actually normal and necessary, and formed part of the pressing external adjustment of the economy. Since the middle of last year, the króna has been fairly stable. It has fluctuated within a relatively narrow corridor which it has only moved beyond in a few exceptional cases. So far this year it has strengthened. Since the beginning of 2007 the nominal exchange rate has on average been 14% weaker than the average for the last quarter of 2005.

We launched the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) to help stabilise financial markets and ease our monetary policy stance considerably. The PEPP is temporary, targeted and proportionate. It addresses the specific shock at hand, and aims to repair the economic damage and the resulting downward pressures on inflation wrought by the pandemic. In addition, it was also vital that we limited the risk of a credit crunch. So we substantially eased the conditions under which banks can obtain liquidity under our targeted longer-term refinancing operations. Banks can now borrow from the ECB at interest rates which can reach -1%, under the condition that they are lending to the real economy. Six months after we introduced our measures, our policy package has stabilised markets, protected the supply of credit and supported the recovery. This, in turn, should support the return of inflation towards our medium-term objective and safeguard price stability. At the same time, the uncertainty of the current environment requires a very careful assessment of the incoming information, including developments in the exchange rate, with regard to its implications for the medium-term inflation outlook. The Governing Council continues to stand ready to adjust all of its instruments, as appropriate, to ensure that inflation moves towards its aim in a sustained manner, in line with its commitment to symmetry. When you look at the past six months, the ECB has not been the only game in town. Our measures have been complemented by forceful fiscal responses at both national and European levels.
It is no secret that, when a country surpasses a threshold per capita income of around $ 2,500, it provides a new impetus to policymakers, key stakeholders and the people as a whole, to launch into a new phase of development. Thereafter, the process of development takes place more smoothly and naturally. This is due to several reasons. First, at the new levels of income, a society naturally attains certain standards, including stronger business ethics, better behavioral patterns and wider national integration. Second, at the new levels of income, people are able to plan their investments better, as they can look beyond matching their income with the cost for basics. This includes not only financial investments, but also includes investments in skill and knowledge, upgrading and investing on physical health, both of which boost factor accumulation with less effort. Third, as income levels increase, even a lower growth rate means a higher increase in income in absolute terms. But, moving towards that magical number is not going to be easy. In today’s trying conditions, it would be even more difficult than in the past when many of the old established advanced nations crossed the magical mark. As we know, many of today’s advanced nations passed that threshold under very different conditions than what the emerging economies are facing today.

Improved monetary and fiscal policies, improved institutions, and better financial systems, etc., are clearly helping to stretch the current positive business cycle, notwithstanding the numerous threats. However, we must not be complacent. We must not underestimate the recent increased financial market volatility. We must not take the oil shock or the inflation pressures lightly. We must not ignore the imbalances that are being generated by the aging population. We must not think that the resistance to globalization will just fade away. We must not conclude that terrorism is someone else’s problem and therefore it will not affect us. We must not imagine that global warming will impact only a few coastal nations and therefore we will be safe from its effects. In contrast, we must anticipate the threats and prepare ourselves to face it with confidence. Needless to say, if these challenges are not adequately addressed, or faced directly, the fall out could result in serious repercussions that will greatly hamper the continued success of the current expansion. Mr. Chairman, another interesting phenomenon is that, while most countries seem to be growing well at the aggregate level, there are also growing concerns about the equitable distribution of these gains. It is clear that rapid technological progress and continuing globalization of trade and finance have helped to enhance growth and reduce poverty. But the same conditions are also contributing to increasing the concentration of income and wealth, within certain selected groups.
But in the rest of the sample, they don’t do much: the compositional effects have been predominantly within, not across, sectors. During 2014, for example, it’s the fact that new jobs went to people with below-average qualifications and experience, and in lower-paid occupations, that depressed average pay growth7. Third, as I emphasised in the introduction, this cyclical pattern is entirely typical. The fact that new hires have low job tenure – and that the average experience of the workforce therefore declines when unemployment falls rapidly – is hardly surprising. That average skill levels should be counter-cyclical is, perhaps, less obvious. But it is a widely and long observed empirical fact: it’s true in all countries that employment rates are lower and more cyclical among the young and unskilled. Why should low skilled employment be more cyclical? Economists have come up with a number of possible explanations. One likely factor is that skilled jobs tend to be more specialised. That means they’re also more likely to be retained, or “hoarded”, in a downturn: the costlier it is to replace someone the more reluctant will be the employer to let him or her go. Another possibility is that low-skilled workers are more easily substituted by new capital and new technologies. So when firms are relatively thinly capitalised, early on in an economic expansion, they tend to hire more unskilled people. Later on, as the recovery matures and investment in new capacity starts to take hold, it’s the demand for skilled employment that starts to grow faster.

Understanding these interactions is essential in assessing whether inflationary pressures are likely to prove persistent and thus calibrating the appropriate monetary policy response. On the basis of current futures prices, wholesale natural gas prices may stabilise or even fall somewhat in the coming months – indeed, that is precisely what we have seen in recent weeks. This will have a mechanical moderating effect on headline inflation from the middle of next year, as the MPC has anticipated in its latest forecasts. But, to the extent that the level of imported gas prices remains significantly higher than in the past – which is also foreseen in futures markets – then the threat of second round effects that sustain inflation at above target rates may well remain, as domestic firms and households try to resist the squeeze on their real incomes and spending power. That threat will be more acute to the extent that domestic firms and workers seek to protect the real value of their profits and earnings in the face of higher – even if no longer rising – imported energy prices. And – other things equal – the ability to firms and workers to protect their real incomes will be greater when corporate pricing power is stronger and labour markets are tighter.
The Training Department would have to provide the requisite training to address skill deficiencies on an urgent basis. Training should also be a continuous process of skill development to meet global and technical challenges as well as those emanating within the Sri Lankan economy. In order to create a learning culture, it is necessary for the employees to take the initiative to enhance their knowledge and skills through self-study and also through participating in relevant seminars, workshops etc. In the future the Training Department would provide all assistance and even sponsor such events. The Training Department is also in the process of preparing a more comprehensive training plan for the entire Bank based on training needs information furnished by each Department. I should also mention that I have already advised the Training Department to take steps to ensure greater transparency in the training policy of the Bank. Once duties are delegated and personnel empowered, it is up to the persons entrusted with such duties to take up the responsibilities thrust on them and strive for excellence when performing such duties. A fair and just performance appraisal scheme will be put in place to evaluate the effectiveness of performance. The aim of the performance evaluation scheme, the reward scheme and the promotion scheme would be to ensure that the best and brightest are promoted and rewarded. The management also intends to implement a Bank-wide job rotation scheme in the New Year.

But before I get into the details, let me say that I believe the LTCM episode and the supervisory response to it is fundamentally about two things: leverage and good judgment. Leverage is a fact of life in our financial world, and is a key part of the risk-taking necessary for the creation of wealth. But sometimes banks go too far in extending credit to their customers and counterparties. That’ s where good judgment comes in. I know - - I’ ve been there. I was a commercial banker for 22 years before becoming President of the New York Fed, and I can tell you that the most important decisions a banker makes are how to lend and to whom. Those decisions are not easy, and often involve many shades of gray. One of our aims as supervisors should be to see that banks are using the right tools to make those judgments. The importance of these issues extends beyond banks and their supervisors. Sound credit policies and procedures are essential not only for the stability of individual banks, but also – and more importantly – for the health of the financial system and the economy as a whole. This is because banks play a pivotal role in our economy as providers of credit. If banks make poor credit decisions with respect to a borrower, including a hedge fund like LTCM, the financial system and our economy will suffer.