vitor constancio : introductory remarks at the fifth ecb conference on accounting, financial reporting and corporate governance for central banks introductory remarks by mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, at the fifth ecb conference on accounting, financial reporting and corporate governance for central banks, frankfurt am main, 21 june 2016. * * * good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the fifth ecb conference on accounting, financial reporting and corporate governance for central banks. this two - day conference is dedicated to the memory of niall merriman, head of the ecb ’ s financial reporting and policy division, who unexpectedly passed away in september 2015. a special welcome and thank you to the distinguished speakers for sharing their thoughts on the topics covered today and tomorrow. this conference is by now well established, as demonstrated by the great interest among central banks around the globe, and the ever increasing participation. 1. the conference is organised along four main themes : 2. developments in international accounting standards ; 3. impact of accounting on financial regulation and supervisory reporting ; 4. managing risks on central bank balance sheets ; and 5. governance and financial reporting issues at central banks. on the first topic, the ecb has stepped up its efforts in monitoring international accounting developments over the last two years. there are two reasons underlying this. first, as you certainly remember, the single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ) became operational in november 2014. accounting information forms the basis for various elements of prudential regulation and supervision. as already highlighted in an ecb report published in december 2006, a harmonised and comparable accounting framework is an important element for consistent supervision. 1 after the eruption of the financial crisis in 2008, the g20 called for a single set of high quality global accounting standards in order to strengthen credibility and comparability of financial information. the main aim of this request was to alleviate risks in the financial sector and to help prevent future financial crises. therefore, the ecb supports the recent activities of the iasb which are geared towards achieving this objective. second, the ecb has recently become more directly involved in the european process for adopting the international financial reporting standards ( ifrs ). this is a major consequence of the maystadt report on how to reinforce the eu ’ s contribution to the ifrs standards and improve the governance of the european institutions developing these standards. 2 since january 2015, the ecb has an observer status in both the new board of the european financial reporting

11. 07. 2022 welcoming remarks to the conference on econometric methods and empirical analysis of microdata in honour of manuel arellano pablo hernandez de cos governor good morning, and welcome to this conference on econometric methods and empirical analysis of microdata in honour of manuel arellano, one of our country ’ s leading economists and a key figure in the field of econometrics at international level. let me take this opportunity to, once again, congratulate professor arellano on all his important achievements. we are indeed very honoured at the banco the espana to have manuel with us at the cemfi. in his recent acceptance speech at the award ceremony of the king of spain ’ s prize for economics, manuel arellano argued that a nation without good administrative data is like a hospital system without access to advanced magnetic resonance equipment. i couldn ’ t agree more with this comparison. to have an accurate diagnosis of the problems of an economy it is crucial to be able to observe economic reality in sufficient detail. and, the analysis of an economy in high resolution is possible thanks to the empirical analysis of data, of microdata in particular, using, of course, the appropriate econometric methods. indeed, in recent decades, the analysis of microdata has revolutionised research in the social sciences1 and policy evaluation. the availability of granular data, together with the development of innovative econometric methods, has radically changed the way researchers approach and understand social issues. at the same time, economists are increasingly being given the opportunity to help governments design new policies and regulations2. and, in this respect, we should bear in mind that carefully designed scientific experiments have been an engine of economic, technological, and social progress. social experiments have become crucial to ensure that governments implement policies with a proven record of success3, that are based on evidence and not on prejudice or intuition. we are now in a position to create a virtuous circle that begins with the allocation of resources to the compilation of data and the provision of access to them, continues with the evaluation of public policies, and ends with the application of the findings to the design of policies. however, unlike medical trials, social experiments – large - scale, publicly funded randomised controlled trials – have not become the gold standard for the evaluation of public policy interventions. einar, l. y levin, j. ( 2014 ) " the data revolution and economic analysis ", working