jean - claude trichet : introduction and chair of the panel on “ stylised facts of globalisation and world inflation ” speech by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the international symposium on “ globalisation, inflation and monetary policy ”, organised by the bank of france, paris, 7 march 2008. * * * i would first like to thank the organisers of this banque de france international symposium for their invitation to chair this panel on “ stylised facts of globalisation and world inflation ”. i am particularly glad to have the opportunity to participate in this panel, as discussions regarding the conduct of monetary policy in a global economy are a constant feature of our policy analysis and research at the ecb. we are fortunate to be joined today by professor kenneth rogoff, who will be talking about globalisation and monetary policy, providing a general overview and looking at some recent issues. professor rogoff has produced remarkable research in the area of international macroeconomics and monetary policy and is therefore the ideal speaker for this morning ’ s presentation. kenneth rogoff started his career at the federal reserve, was chief economist and director of research at the imf and is now a professor at harvard university. richard fisher will be the first discussant. richard fisher was deputy us trade representative from 1997 to 2001 and is now president of the federal reserve bank of dallas. our second discussant will be john lipsky, who was chief economist and vice chairman at jpmorgan before being appointed first deputy managing director of the imf. and professor philippe martin will be our third discussant. philippe martin, whose research in the field of international macroeconomics has been published in numerous leading journals, is a professor at the university of paris i pantheon - sorbonne and a membre de l ’ institut. i look forward to listening to the contributions of this very distinguished panel to the ongoing debate regarding the links between globalisation and inflation. over the last 15 years the world has witnessed a substantial and continuous decline in the level of inflation that has coincided with the advent of the global economy. the natural question to ask is therefore whether globalisation has been one of the main factors driving price moderation. with the development of international trade, competitive pressures from low - cost countries have indeed helped to control prices and wages, especially in the manufacturing sector. pressure to innovate has probably also boosted productivity, with beneficial effects for inflation. the question is therefore whether these channels

philipp m hildebrand : asset management at central banks - a special case? speech by mr philipp m hildebrand, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the university of st gallen, st gallen, 5 december 2003. the complete speech can be found in french on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * summary next to monetary policy, the management of international reserves is another important task of the swiss national bank ( snb ). since its obligations cannot be defined precisely, there can be no exact determination as to the optimal level of a country ’ s international reserves. in accordance with the buffer stock model, the level of international reserves should be determined - just as one would choose an appropriate insurance - based on the likelihood of a crisis, on their contribution to managing or avoiding the crisis as well as on the opportunity costs implied in holding reserves. both the insights derived from this model and from international comparison have shown that switzerland holds a reasonable level of international reserves. the long - term development of these reserves should be based on a set of clear goals, as is the case in switzerland with the growth of nominal gdp as a strategic benchmark. in defining its investment policy, the snb takes into account safety, liquidity, and performance. the new national bank law will enable the snb to better adapt its investment profile to its needs, which ought to lower the opportunity costs implied in holding reserves. as investment activity is becoming increasingly complex, so are the demands of corporate governance. in conformity with the private financial sector, central banks - the snb counts itself among them - have professionalised their investment and risk control processes and improved their accountability toward the public. with increased professionalism, particularly as a result of applying the mark - to - market principle, the snb ’ s profits are more volatile than in the past, however. in order to safeguard the independence of monetary policy and so as not to restrict investment policy, the snb ’ s annual profit distribution - as already spelled out in the message of the federal council on the new national bank law - must remain a variable residual amount in the long term and must not be tied to any specific purpose.