a non - issue in the united states. however, such observers vastly underestimate the political capital invested in the euro by our leaders, as well as the political significance that such an investment has for the future of europe. of course, much work remains to be done for economic policy - makers across europe. but i am confident that together we can build a stronger economic and monetary union that ultimately delivers jobs, growth and a return to prosperity for the citizens of the euro area. thank you for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

’ s actions influence the overall strength and stability of the economy, as you know, but they also affect the cost of a mortgage, the prices of goods and services, and the health of the job market that your students are part of or will soon be entering. economics also complements and enriches the study of history. when i took history classes in high school, we spent much of our time memorizing dates and important events – revolutions, wars, elections, the passage of laws, and so on. while i appreciated the need to be familiar with such milestones, i remember feeling that i would like to know more about the lives of ordinary people at those times, not just about kings and queens and presidents. in college and graduate school, i studied economic history and found what i was looking for. for me, economic history added critical context by zooming in on the conditions of ordinary life – how people earned their livings, what their wages would buy, the extent to which they felt economically secure, the pace of economic change that they faced. appreciating what the lives of ordinary people were like at various times and places helped explain the larger events – the wars, revolutions, and elections – as well. by the same token, understanding history also requires an appreciation of the role of key economic institutions, including central banks like the federal reserve. when i was in graduate school, my teacher, stanley fischer, introduced me to the work of milton friedman and anna schwartz, which demonstrated that monetary policy can have enormous effects on bis central bankers ’ speeches how the economy performs, for good or for ill. that realization helped motivate me to specialize, in graduate school and after, in monetary economics and related fields. similarly, for your students, it ’ s impossible to understand the great depression, america ’ s strong economic performance after world war ii, or the recent financial crisis without learning about the federal reserve and the debates that have surrounded it. learning about the federal reserve and about economics more generally will help students in their daily lives, by helping them make better financial or career decisions, for example, and by helping them become more informed citizens and voters. learning about the federal reserve and its economic context will also give students a deeper understanding of history, as i noted. yet there is one more reason why we at the fed hope to use this centennial as an educational opportunity – to maintain and strengthen the democratic accountability and effectiveness of this institution. traditionally, like other central