consequences and potential remedies. researchers and policymakers began to turn the dial up on the discussion around the zlb. the fed held a conference in woodstock, vermont in october 1999 on the zlb. 1 at that conference, marvin presented his paper “ overcoming the zero bound on interest rate policy, ” which was subsequently published in the journal of money, credit and banking ( jmcb ). 2 in january 2002, marvin briefed the fomc on aspects of the research that he had presented at the woodstock conference, as part of a session on the zlb in which david reifschneider and i presented our research as well. 3 by that point, the federal funds rate had fallen to 1. 75 percent, so the zlb was starting to get on policymakers ’ radar screens. on those occasions, marvin emphasized the importance of the zlb as a constraint on policy and urged us to think differently about how central banks could still carry out their missions, even under that constraint. he developed and analyzed what were then considered “ outside the box ” options for overcoming the zlb. these helped lay the groundwork for how economists and 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches policymakers think about these issues in both conceptual and practical terms. for example, marvin was one of the first people to think seriously about how the constraint caused by the zlb could be relaxed by implementing negative interest rates. now, i know that the topic of negative interest rates is controversial. but, whatever conclusions you may draw about the relative merits of negative rates, marvin ’ s research early on helped identify and explore a broad dimension of issues and potential choices for policymakers. marvin ’ s intellectual pursuit of all aspects of the zlb logically drove him to explore the possibility for currency to have a digital component. although many think of central bank digital currencies as a new - fangled idea, marvin was thinking deeply about the prospect long ago. this has become one of the hot topics in the world of central banks today. the conversation that marvin began in woodstock in 1999 became the basis for discussions that were had later on at the fomc meeting in january 2002. at that fomc meeting, marvin expanded upon the idea of asset purchases as a policy tool that he had proposed in his paper at the conference in woodstock. he emphasized that the fed asset purchases can affect financial conditions and thereby the economy. he was expanding the conversation away from thinking about conventional monetary policy to unconventional options

feedback loops ; the likely existence of nonlinearities and tipping points ; and massive uncertainty about key factors like the timing of climate impacts, policy choices, technological change, and adaptive responses by consumers and businesses. all of this tests our capacity to understand and manage the risks. at the same time, this is a complicated undertaking from an implementation perspective. success will require us to process and analyze vast amounts of granular data and aggregate across business lines, sectors, and jurisdictions ; to implement new governance and organizational structures ; and to invest in our workforce to develop new skills and new expertise. in my view, these challenges are not a reason for a cautious approach, but rather a clear signal about the scale of the work to be done. our shared success will depend on meaningful investments to build capacity and develop new tools, a willingness to innovate and look beyond traditional approaches, and an unwavering commitment to the public good. in particular, i think it will require ongoing collaboration between the private and public sectors to push the industry toward greater resilience to the financial risks of climate change. discussions like this one are a critical step in that direction. thank you for your attention. 1 federal reserve board of governors, supervision and regulation report, november 2020. 2 stiroh, kevin j., the basel committee ’ s initiatives on climate - related financial risks, october 14, 2020. 3 basel committee, climate - related financial risks : a survey of current initiatives, april 30, 2020. 4 david j. snowden and mary e. boone, “ a leader ’ s framework for decision making, " harvard business review, november 2007. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches