in financial markets and are affected by changes in the money supply before others, then an increase in the money supply will redistribute wealth towards those most connected to markets. to the extent that households that participate actively in financial transactions typically have higher income, then this channel also implies that consumption inequality should rise after expansionary monetary policy shocks. the third is the “ portfolio channel ” : if low - income households tend to hold relatively more cash and fewer financial assets than high - income households, then potentially inflationary actions on the part of the central bank would represent a transfer from low - to high - income households. again, this would tend to increase consumption inequality. the nber study outlines two further channels that tend to move inequality in the opposite direction in response to expansionary monetary policy. the first is the “ savings redistribution channel ” : lower interest rates will benefit borrowers and hurt savers. to the extent that savers are generally wealthier than borrowers, this will generate a reduction in consumption inequality. see bordo, m. d., meissner, c. m., does inequality lead to a financial crisis?, nber working papers 17896, 2012. see coibion, o., gorodnichenko, y., kueng, l., silvia j., innocent bystanders? monetary policy and inequality in the u. s., nber working paper no. 18170, june 2012. bis central bankers ’ speeches the second is the “ earnings heterogeneity channel ” : earnings from jobs are the primary source of income for most households and earnings for high - and low - income households may respond differently to monetary policy. this could occur, for example, if unemployment falls disproportionately on low - income groups : evidence does suggest that that labour earnings at the bottom of the distribution are most affected by business cycle fluctuations. so if monetary policy reduces unemployment, it will also reduce inequality. in addition, the income composition channel could potentially lead to reduced, rather than increased, inequality as a result of expansionary monetary policy. because low - income households receive, on average, a larger share of their income from transfers and because transfers tend to be countercyclical, then this component of income heterogeneity could lead to reduced income inequality. all these different channels imply that the effect of monetary policy on economic inequality is a priori ambiguous. the study therefore looks at us data from 1980

erkki liikanen : finland – “ a land in between ” but at the heart of europe speech by mr erkki liikanen, governor of the bank of finland, at the dinner of informal ecofin, helsinki, 8 september 2006. * * * ministers, colleagues, dear friends, this is the second time when european leaders are dining in this house. the first time was in spring 1953, when robert schuman, the father of the european coal and steel community and former french prime minister, was received here for a dinner. the host was the colourful and controversial cabinet minister, vaino leskinen. schuman had been invited to finland by the foreign trade association as a guest speaker. his visit created a strong negative reaction from the soviet union. a week later pravda wrote that the visit was undeniably connected with discussions against stepping up trade between finland and the soviet union. in this climate, the government did not want to devote any official attention to robert schuman. president paasikivi, however, received him and wrote in his memoirs : " i explained my own view and the position of finland. he understood it well. schuman is indeed an intelligent and charming man ". today, this episode seems to have been long ago. europe was divided into two hostile blocks. finland followed european construction from a distance, if at all. the destiny of this country has always been linked to the relations between great powers. we have been " a land in between ". also culturally, finland shows many influences. we have got much through stockholm, and from famous german university towns. architecturally, the neo - classic centre of helsinki resembles st. petersburg. as a political entity, finland emerged as a result of the peace treaty of tilsit, in 1807. napoleon encouraged the russian emperor to conquer finland from sweden. alexander i succeeded and established the autonomous grand duchy of finland, where he ruled as constitutional monarch – although he remained an autocrat in russia. important institutions of this country were developed during the autonomy, long before independence. for example, the bank of finland was established in 1811. it is the fourth oldest central bank. finland obtained its own monetary system in 1860. it was seen as a means of integrating the country's monetary system with the european monies. the currency, markka, was defined as being equal to the french franc in metallic content. the construction of this community hall was begun in 1906 by the helsinki