inequality database, social science quarterly 97 ( 5 ), 1267 – 81. in other advanced economies, e. g. france and norway, net income inequality has remained fairly constant in recent decades. see dabla - norris, e., k. kochhar, n. suphaphiphat, f. ricka and e. tsounta ( 2015 ), causes and consequences of income inequality : a global perspective, international monetary fund staff discussion note sdn / 15 / 13, june. see, e. g., philippon, t., and a. reshef ( 2012 ), wages and human capital in the u. s. finance industry : 1909 – 2006, quarterly journal of economics, 127 ( 4 ) : 1551 – 1607. for a critical appraisal of the fsb, see sheets, n. ( 2017 ), race to the top : the case for the financial stability board, peterson institute for international economics, policy brief 17 – 12, april. gambacorta, l. and h. s. shin ( 2016 ), why bank capital matters for monetary policy, bis working papers no 558, april 2016. the common equity tier 1 ratio of significant euro area banks reached 13. 7 % in the third quarter of 2016 against 9 % in 2012. the annual growth rate of adjusted mfi loans to non - financial corporations ( i. e. adjusted for loan sales, securitisation and notional cash pooling ) stood at 2. 0 % in february 2017, up from a trough of – 3. 5 % in february 2014. the annual growth rate of adjusted mfi loans to households stood at 2. 3 % in february 2017, up from a trough of – 0. 4 % in november 2013. see cœure, b. ( 2017 ), sustainable globalisation : lessons from europe, speech at a special public event “ 25 years after maastricht : the future of money and finance in europe ”, maastricht, 16 february. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

the wto, china has fulfilled its commitments in real earnest. tariff rates have been massively slashed and are close to the ultimate target ; non - tariff protection barriers have been nearly completely dismantled ; and the service industry has opened further to foreign competition. the wto membership has bought tremendous challenges to chinese enterprises, particularly as the chinese economy is still in the process of restructuring. some state - owned enterprises remain inefficient, the agricultural industry underdeveloped, the financial system un - resilient to risks, regional disparity widening and unemployment pressures still high. first, pressures of agricultural import have heightened as the market has become more open to foreign competition. ( 1 ) china is a country with small per capita arable land. about 70 percent of its 1. 3 billion people live in the countryside. in 2003, china ’ s grain output only totaled 420 million tons. in contrast, only 7 percent of the us population live in the rural areas and the us grain production was 350 - 380 million tons, not much lower than that produced in china. this fact reflects low productivity of china ’ s agricultural sector. ( 2 ) with massive subsidies provided by the developed countries to their agricultural industry, china is facing increasing competition from the imports of low - priced agricultural products from the developed countries. second, some manufacturing industries also face great challenges. though i do not like labeling china the “ world factory ”, it should be recognized that the manufacturing industry accounts for a significant part of both the gdp and the export sector in china. currently, the manufacturing industry contributes 37 percent to the gdp growth. the chinese manufacturing industry remains uncompetitive as evidenced by the following : ( 1 ) weak capacity for technology innovation. according to some survey, china owned only 60 percent of the 104 key technologies used in the production of color tv sets, only 50 percent of the 65 key technologies needed for mobile phone production, and 15. 8 percent of the 57 key technologies required for dvd production. ( 2 ) lack of self - developed brand names. china processes products for many famous foreign brands. 53 percent of the exporters are foreign - invested enterprises, which account for 60 percent of china ’ s total export value. ( 3 ) huge discrepancies exist in terms of management, marketing strategy and the building of modern corporate system compared with the foreign multinational companies. furthermore, trade protectionism and unfair trade practices pursued by certain countries also affect its industrial competitiveness. in 1990s, one of