john c williams : diversity and inclusion - we are not where we need to be remarks by mr john c williams, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, at the open finance forum, new york city, 25 june 2019. * * * as prepared for delivery good morning. i ’ m an economist, so i ’ m going to start with some numbers. the unemployment rate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people is nearly double the national average. 1 and the unemployment rate specifically for transgender people is three times the national rate. 2 as president of a federal reserve bank, i am focused on two vital economic goals : maximum employment and stable prices for the u. s. economy. these statistics paint a clear picture of why conferences like this one are so important : we are not where we need to be. before i go any further, i need to give the standard fed disclaimer that the views i express today are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the federal open market committee or others in the federal reserve system. let me say, as an ally, that it ’ s a genuine honor to be invited to open today ’ s forum. this pride month marks 50 years since the stonewall uprising. we ’ ve come a long way since the 1960s, but we still have far to go. it was also a great honor to be able to fly the pride flag outside the federal reserve bank of new york for the first time this june. but, given that it is 50 years since stonewall, it ’ s clear we have more catching up to do. and this is where we owe open finance a great debt of gratitude. open finance gives us the tools we need to assess how we ’ re doing, and where we need to make progress. with the support of open finance, and the dedication of the open network at the new york fed, we ’ ve introduced a number of new policies and measures that drive our efforts to make the bank the open and inclusive employer we aspire to be. i ’ d personally like to thank david ignell and gil carroll, presidents of our open network, for their work moving us forward. these efforts are important because they send a message to lgbt employees and the organization as a whole about our values and culture. i ’ d like to share one specific example. we recently created the option to add gender pronouns to our official e - mail signatures. this is a part of an organization - wide effort

is that they blur the boundaries between monetary and fiscal policy. the extensive purchases have made the euro area ’ s central banks the largest creditors of its member states. this has thrust monetary policymakers deep into the realm of fiscal policy – in my view, too deep. because, in the end, it is the eurosystem that decides how much interest euro - area countries pay on large swaths of general government debt. and this interest rate is broadly the same for all countries, irrespective of their credit rating. as a result, monetary policy also ultimately neutralises the second stability anchor for public finances. this is because a large part of general government debt is no longer subject to the disciplining effect of the capital markets. the eurosystem ’ s low - interest - rate policy also runs the risk of finance ministers being taken in by an illusion of sustainability. they see the debt burden as being lighter than it would be in a “ normal ” interest rate environment. compared with the interest rate level back in 2007, euro - area countries have altogether saved almost €1, 000 billion in interest from that time on, which is virtually on a par with spain ’ s annual gdp. even in this setting, some countries lack either the ability or the inclination to comply with the deficit ceilings set out under the maastricht framework. especially the large euro - area countries such as france, italy and spain, which will only just hit the 3 % ceiling, if at all, have channelled all of the interest they ’ ve saved into higher general government expenditure rather than, for example, paying off debt. that ’ s why i ’ ve been saying for some time now that this could ultimately lead to the ecb governing council being subjected to political pressure to postpone any normalisation of monetary policy out of concern for public finances. and one thing should be clear to us : the longer we stay in ultra - accommodative monetary policy mode, the more its positive effects will 8 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches diminish and the more visible its undesired side - effects will become. and those don ’ t just include the risk of unsound public finances – low interest rates also pose a risk to financial stability. the crisis made it crystal clear that bouts of financial market turbulence can also have a detrimental impact on price stability. that ’ s why it would be wrong of us to disregard such risks. or, to put it another way, if monetary