mr meyer gives a central banker ’ s view from switzerland speech given by mr hans meyer, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the swiss - american chamber of commerce, in new york on 1 october 1999. * * * environment the swiss will remember the last few years as a time of important economic and social challenges with mixed feelings. if one attempts to put events into a larger context, the first thing that comes to mind is that in the course of time, there have always been periods of intense change which were followed by calmer ones. such fluctuations can occur because different events, with their positive or negative consequences, may have a more or less coincidental cumulative effect. as a rule, however, there is a remarkable logic behind the way events unfold. all things considered, it appears to be entirely logical that at the close of this century, we should have reached an economic and social turning point. an era is coming to an end, which – in a broad sense – we still associate with the post - war period. during this period, our economic development was characterised by remarkably steady real growth. especially during the first decades following the second world war, pent - up demand created extraordinary dynamism. economic output improved continuously not only in terms of quantity but also of quality, leading to unprecedented growth as well as more widespread prosperity. in the course of this development, the public sector witnessed a remarkable expansion. here too, an apparent backlog in demand had to be satisfied. subsequently, developments became more complex. in the face of increasingly scarce resources, the question arose as to what the optimal role of government should be in terms of type, scope and implementation of its activities. there is obviously also a dark side to this briefly outlined development. the pace of activities increasingly overwhelmed many contemporaries and thus led to new tensions. the social fabric has become less cohesive. relations between individuals are more difficult. environmental pollution is a problem which we tend to repress. finally, we have come to realise that an increasing economic interdependence between individual countries entails opportunities as well as risks. in short, we are today confronted with problems of a mature society. it is perhaps a small comfort, but nevertheless important, to point out that we find ourselves in a similar position as our neighbours and other comparable industrial states. satisfaction with what has been achieved makes one forget all too easily what was needed to advance so far and what will be needed to maintain – if not

jean - pierre roth : central bank policy and developments on the real estate market summary of a speech by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the 8th international symposium of the group of fifteen, zurich, 1 february 2007. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * the swiss national bank takes considerable interest in the real estate market for a number of different reasons. movements in real estate prices, on which it focuses in particular, can have a bearing on private consumption, investments and bank lending in addition to directly influencing the consumer price index through the rent component. the snb ’ s monetary policy is aimed at maintaining price stability, as measured by changes in consumer prices. therefore, if it had reason to expect that developments in the real estate market could jeopardise price stability in the economy as a whole, the snb would definitely adjust its monetary policy. the swiss real estate market has shown a very positive performance over the last few years and has made a substantial contribution to the upturn of the economy. according to the national bank's assessment, the housing market in particular is currently well - balanced. the present situation thus gives no cause for concern. the snb will, however, continue to monitor developments closely, particularly those factors that might boost demand for residential space in the future. as the swiss economy is on the upswing, income is rising, as are the prices of assets. demographic changes could also add to the pressure. for instance, immigration of well - qualified persons with high purchasing power has increased quite steeply since the agreement on the free movement of persons entered into force almost five years ago. these factors all tend to drive up demand for residential space. so far, supply has been able to keep pace with the increasing demand. nevertheless, with supply adjusting only slowly, a higher level of demand could well accelerate price increases in the real estate market. it would then be the snb ’ s responsibility to ensure – under these more difficult circumstances – that price movements in the real estate market did not threaten price stability as a whole.