becomes to view this improvement merely as a cyclical phenomenon. certainly, it seems to me that the accompanying low levels of inflation, together with relatively high rates of resource utilization, suggest that something more than normal cyclical forces is at work. the ability to develop and deploy these technological advances rests on underlying changes in our labor and financial markets, changes that have been occurring over the last two decades. with respect to labor markets, two main changes have occurred. first, large corporations have been increasingly willing to lay off workers and restructure their businesses during the expansion phase of the business cycle rather than waiting for a recession to do so. this process has been under way in the united states for over a decade and it has not been accomplished without pain. a crucial unanswered question in the current environment is how to identify the point at which labor market tightness becomes sufficiently severe for workers to demand more permanent pay increases. second, there appears to be a shift in the structure of compensation toward variable pay that includes, but is not confined to, stock options. this shift away from wages and traditional benefits has allowed for greater flexibility in labor costs and by this means has made it easier for new firms to add labor. employees compensated through incentive pay take on some of the risks of capital. and in highly competitive goods and services markets, consumers ’ benefits show up in the form of lower prices, rather than entirely in higher pay, with important, not yet fully understood, implications for the distribution of benefits in our economy. let us not forget the financial and corporate side of this picture as well. there is no doubt that the banking system in the united states has been far stronger in the 1990s than it was in the previous two decades. at the same time, capital markets have deepened significantly. expanded equity markets have served as important sources of finance for new businesses, while venture capital markets have provided increased access to risk capital. by some measures, new financing from these and related markets has tripled the flow of new equity capital to business in the last five years. also important has been the increased liquidity of financial assets. today, asset portfolios of loans and credit cards are easily transferable through securitization or outright sale. as a result, the corporate sector, too, has witnessed significant change over this past decade, with the formation of many new businesses and the transformation of many old ones. many of the household names today were formed sometime in the last 25 years, while a number of

durmus yılmaz : the impacts of the current crisis on oic member countries opening speech by mr durmus yilmaz, governor of the central bank of the republic of turkey, in the meeting of the governors of the central banks and the financial authorities of the organization of the islamic conference member countries, istanbul, 3 october 2009. * * * governors of central banks and financial authorities of the member countries of the organization of the islamic conference ( oic ), dear guests, i would like to express our pleasure to host this event and such distinguished participants here in istanbul. welcome to the meeting of the governors of the central banks and the financial authorities of oic member countries, which is the only organization that gathers islamic world under one roof. what makes this meeting more meaningful is that we are also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the organization of the islamic conference and 25th anniversary of the standing committee for economic and commercial cooperation of the organization of the islamic conference ( comcec ) this year. as the cradle of civilizations for centuries and the european capital of culture in 2010, istanbul is an ideal venue for this meeting. dear guests, the current global financial and economic crisis, we have been experiencing since last year, has profound negative impacts on the economies of many countries in all parts of the world, reinforcing inspiration and need for restructuring the current order of the global community based on the principles of justice, equity, participation and peace. the efforts are in progress at the international level to build the institutional, legal and humanitarian infrastructures of the globalization that we are de - facto living during the last 20 years. the muslim world had the experience of building and maintaining a global order that embraced diversity and harmony over the regions spreading from atlantic to pacific and central asia to central africa from early 9th century till the end of 17th century where not only muslims but also all members of the humanity experienced economic, social and political integration at a global scale and, unlike the turmoil and turbulence in the rest of the world, free trade and free movement of people prevailed without any discrimination against ethnic and religious identities. as member countries of the standing committee for economic and commercial cooperation of the organization of the islamic conference ( comcec ), our goal is to make a meaningful contribution to the idea of building a sustainable and stable global order to reach peace and prosperity that embraces differences between the civilizations as a source of richness and not a reason for clash, on the principles of justice, equity, participation and