as age, education and the sector in which they work have a direct impact on their wages. this would indicate that reductions in the wage gap would have positive effects on the credit market, reducing financial costs for women, which could stimulate consumption and investment. this analysis is also robust to different types of credit, and not only to total average loans. our studies also show a gender gap in the amount of credit granted. however, in this case, the equations that control for wages, age, education, industry and type of credit fail to fully explain this gap. on this point, according to information from the household financial survey, women heads of household restrict themselves more than men when applying for a loan, because they believe that they will not be granted it. this belief seems to be validated by evidence that women are discriminated against when taking 4 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches out commercial loans in chile. likewise, these results also support the hypothesis that women are more risk averse than men. future work may shed light on the role of these potential explanations for the difference in loan amounts granted to men and women. to sum up, administrative data show that gender gaps in wages, labor participation and job - to - job transitions are considerable in chile and heterogeneous across economic sectors. in addition, the gender gap extends to the credit market, where credit conditions in terms of interest rates and amounts are, on average, better for men. however, these gaps observed in the credit market seem to be explained in part by the wage gap and, perhaps, by a lower demand for credit by women relative to men. given these results, efforts to close gender gaps in the labor market would have, in addition to the aforementioned direct effects on economic growth, indirect positive effects through the credit market. although these results are quite subjective, they are still the fruit of a descriptive analysis, which we hope will be the beginning of the development of a research agenda on these issues. let me use what i have just said about gender gaps in the credit market to highlight something that is extremely significant. did you notice that there may be some restriction on the part of women related to barriers that are not observable, such as beliefs that they will not be considered as credit subjects? this aspect is repeated over and over again in other markets and areas of the economy, and also in our workplaces. it is the unconscious gender bias. reducing gender bias and central bank actions the unconscious gender bias refers

international community might offer. the caribbean welcomes offers of additional assistance in the upgrading of financial surveillance. in particular, we are concerned about the inadequacy of data on regional and international linkages and cross border risk exposures. this is an issue of vital importance for domestic financial stability in the caribbean region, as well as for the stability of the region ’ s international financial business. in this connection we would be glad to be involved with the joint initiative of the imf and the financial stability board ( fsb ) on “ the financial crisis and information gaps ”, which speaks to these issues. however, the fsb ’ s “ non - cooperative jurisdictions ” initiative is puzzling and unhelpful. caribbean jurisdictions were in no way implicated in the recent international financial crisis, and there were no failures in ibfs sectors in caribbean jurisdictions. since the fsb ’ s mandate is international financial stability, its selection process, which has placed some caribbean jurisdictions on its priority list, appears to be flawed. the caribbean jurisdictions are fully involved in the fsap and rosc processes, and are adequately served by technical assistance. the fsb appears to be questioning the assessments published in the financial system stability assessments for caribbean countries. moreover, the fsb has not published the criteria by which it will supercede the judgment of fsap teams, reflected in the published fssas. in any case, what is required in order to strengthen financial surveillance is improved data and methodologies, not an additional review of information which will already be out of date. furthermore, it is unclear that the fsb has the technical capacity to render a balanced and informed judgment on the adequacy of financial systems. the fact that the fsb contemplates declaring as “ non - cooperative ” countries which are fully involved with the fsap and fatf processes, if taken at face value, implies a totally unjustified lack of confidence in the fsap process. the fsap was developed on the basis of intensive research and analysis, and the tools, techniques and processes of the fsap continue to be refined, in particular to incorporate the lessons of the international financial crisis. the fsb appears to discount this considerable intellectual investment, without providing an adequate substitute. in short, the fsb “ non - cooperative jurisdictions initiative ” lacks transparency, legitimacy, intellectual integrity and justification. rather than contribute to strengthening international financial stability it represents a disincentive for international financial cooperation