frequent in previous decades. for these reasons, the ecb has from the start carefully monitored and continuously communicated the developments in euro area inflation expectations. experience indicates that the volatility of indicators of long - term inflation expectations, especially those based on survey data, has always remained relatively limited, at levels comparable to those in the best performing industrialised countries in this respect. notably, survey - based indicators of inflation expectations have always remained fairly close to 1. 8 % and, most of the time, within the range of 1. 7 to 1. 9 %, thus at levels fully in line with the ecb ’ s definition of price stability. however, as i have already mentioned, indicators of long - term inflation expectations based on financial market data have edged up slightly in the course of this year. this is a source of concern for the ecb. i assure you that the governing council is particularly vigilant about the development of these indicators. the framework for assessing and communicating the risks to price stability another important aspect related to the recent transformation in monetary policy concerns the ability of the central bank to present and explain to the public at large the analytical framework used by policymakers to continuously assess the flow of data, reach policy decisions and communicate them to the public. in this respect, the ecb ’ s framework emphasises two important principles : the medium - term orientation of monetary policy for achieving price stability and the principle of robustness of the analysis, which underlie its assessment of the risks to price stability. the medium - term orientation of monetary policy ever since the announcement of its strategy in 1998 the ecb has made it clear that price stability is to be maintained over the medium term. i emphasised before that it is crucial in monetary policy to look through ” short - term volatility in prices, which is typically outside the control of central banks. the medium - term orientation of the ecb ’ s monetary policy strategy clarifies that the time horizon over which price stability has to be re - established needs to be tailored to the prevailing circumstances in the economy. this horizon would depend on factors such as whether the shocks are temporary or permanent, on whether they emerged on the supply or the demand side, on whether the origin of the shocks is domestic or external or on whether they have a bearing on the performance or even the fragility of the financial system. by adapting the appropriate monetary policy horizon to the nature of the shock, the ecb makes an important contribution to avoiding

ben s bernanke : welcoming remarks speech by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the conference on “ small business and entrepreneurship during an economic recovery ”, federal reserve board, washington dc, 9 november 2011. * * * good morning. welcome to the federal reserve board and today ’ s conference, “ small business and entrepreneurship during an economic recovery. ” let me begin by thanking the federal reserve bank of atlanta and the ewing marion kauffman foundation, both of which have cooperated closely with the board of governors in organizing this event. this meeting is indeed an eclectic one, bringing together small business owners, lenders, technical assistance providers, government officials, and members of the academic community to explore the challenges faced by today ’ s entrepreneurs and to identify promising approaches to addressing their needs. events such as this one are particularly valuable because they allow us to draw on a broad range of experiences and evidence. we are keenly interested in hearing your insights and look forward to sharing results from the federal reserve ’ s continued small business outreach and research efforts. some of you may have attended a forum here last year that focused on credit access for small businesses. 1 we hope to advance that discussion today by exploring not only the financing needs of creditworthy small businesses, but also the role these firms could play in creating jobs during these difficult economic times. we will also discuss the unique challenges faced by women - and minority - owned firms. we hope to be as concrete and practical as possible ; for example, several conference papers assess the extent to which training, technical assistance, and other resources are available to support these and other small firms. the ultimate goal of this meeting is to learn more about how best to support both small businesses and their communities – to understand what works and what doesn ’ t. importance of small businesses to the economy it ’ s no secret that the past few years have been very difficult for many small firms. they have faced weak sales, diminished asset values, elevated uncertainty, and tight credit market conditions. many small business owners have had to lay off employees or defer hiring. and many potential entrepreneurs with plans to start new businesses have put those plans on hold. the role of small businesses and entrepreneurship in job creation will be discussed in our first panel today. as many of you are aware, small businesses have played an important role in fueling past economic recoveries. we need to think carefully about how, in the current