Taking into account price changes, the January retail sales data were reasonably strong. Consumer spending, particularly for durable goods such as motor vehicles, has clearly strengthened. Light-weight motor vehicle sales in January were well above the average pace of the first quarter of 2012. This stronger durable goods spending reflects some improvements in labor market conditions, consumer confidence, household balance sheets and access to credit. Another major plus for the economy entering 2013 is the housing market, with upward trends evident in housing starts, home sales and home prices. To see why this is so important, in 2009 residential investment was a 0.4 percentage point drag on growth of GDP, while in 2013 it is likely to provide a boost to growth on the order of 0.5 percentage point – a swing of nearly a full percentage point. Business investment in equipment and software, another component of private final demand, strengthened in the fourth quarter, and orders for nondefense capital goods have moved higher in recent months. Indicators of the U.S. manufacturing sector have begun to look a bit brighter as well, with the ISM manufacturing index at its highest level since last April. Survey-based indicators of manufacturing activity also have begun to improve in several other major economies around the world. Of course the quickening pace of auto, home, and capital goods sales and orders, all interest-sensitive goods, is consistent with the highly accommodative stance of monetary policy, which not only lowers interest rates but enhances credit availability as well.

Distinguishing features such as shallow and narrow financial markets, limited number of financial instruments, particular behavioural traits of economic agents and distinctive economic and financial memories, can reveal non-traditional behaviour and interesting phenomena that do not appear and, are, therefore, not addressed in research findings from developed markets. The identification of these particular characteristics and their implications for research findings might be good enough to spark the interest of economic journals and economic conferences to bring these characteristics to the attention of the research community and enrich mainstream economic theory. Just to illustrate a few interesting cases, I would like to remind you that the development of economic and financial markets in response to Bank of Albania policies has been weak and sometimes puzzling, making it difficult to interpret using mainstream economic models. The desire for unhedged borrowers to borrow in foreign currency, the reduced efficiency of transmission mechanisms in the presence of central bank credibility, the potential role of informal and parallel markets and informal economic activity, are some examples of interesting traits of economic behaviour. Several authors have been intrigued by such developments. Hence, they have conducted extensive research on these phenomenon in similar emerging and developing economies, which have later seen the light of publication. Good examples are found in the research work done by the national bank of Austria (OeNB) on the level of euroization in the region, with interesting results that have helped authorities but have also increased the interest of other institutions and academics in euroization issues.