innovation and interdependencies, but also that of climate threats and inequality, and all with a worrying weakening, the world over, in public governance. a low price of time is as much a threat as an opportunity : a threat if we give in, in the short term, to the ease of abundant liquidity and allow financial instability to grow ; an opportunity if we use low rates collectively to invest in the future, from the ecological transition to education. you can count on our determination to act on the monetary side. but the battle is broader – it is our political challenge, collectively, as europeans – and it is longer term : it will be the challenge of your generation. i hope each and every one of you can contribute successfully to the fight. thank you for your attention. references : i i would like to thank chahinez benmissi, jean boissinot, adrian penalver, berengere rudelle and giulia sestieri for their help in preparing this speech. ii for a general discussion of the topic, see garnier o., lhuissier s., and penalver a., “ taux d ’ interet bas, quelle responsabilite de la politique monetaire? “, risques no. 120, december 2019. iii wicksell k., interest and prices, 1898. iv rachel l. ; smith t., “ are low real interest rates here to stay? ”, international journal of central banking, september 2017. v excluding energy and food. vi see notably : panel on “ behavioral economics and economic policy in the past and future ” federal reserve bank of boston conference : “ implications of behavioral economics for economic policy ” boston, massachusetts, speech by janet l. yellen, president and ceo, federal reserve bank of san francisco. https : / / www. frbsf. org / our - district / files / 0928. pdf or duca i ; kenny g. ; reuter a., “ how do inflation expectations impact consumer behaviour? ”, ecb paper, august 2016. vii international monetary fund, word economic and market developments, gita gopinath, october 2019. viii see notably rostagno et al. ( 2019 ), a tale of two decades : the ecb ’ s monetary policy at 20 ; hartmann and smets ( 2018 ). ix de pastor r., “ smes and vses in france

bank of france reports industrial output continued to increase in all sectors in february 1997 bank of france, monthly business survey, 17 / 3 / 97. in february, according to the business leaders surveyed by the banque de france, industrial output continued to increase in all sectors. the capacity utilization rate rose slightly. overall demand grew at a moderate pace. there was strong demand from foreign markets, particularly from northern europe, including germany and the united kingdom, and from the united states and asia. the rise in the dollar and in sterling reinforced the competitiveness of french products. growth in demand on the domestic market was much more moderate. order books are deemed to be satisfactory in all sectors, with the exception of the food - processing industry, where they declined slightly and appear to be insufficient. inventories of finished products are still somewhat above normal levels. in particular, they are considered to be above desired levels in the food - processing, intermediate goods and automobile sectors. in the coming months activity should continue to increase in all sectors, with the exception of the automobile sector. commodity prices were stable overall. however, price rises were recorded in certain parts of the intermediate goods industry, such as the rubber and plastics, metal - working, and wood - processing sectors, and in the food processing industry owing to the appreciation of the dollar. intense competition prevented these increases from being passed on to sales prices, which scarcely changed, except in the automobile sector, where they declined. the business leaders surveyed continued to be cautious in their investment plans. there were few plans for large - scale investment, and they mainly concerned the renewal of modernization of existing equipment. retail sales contracted in february, after posting a substantial rise in january. employment levels remained stable in industry, except in the automobile sector, where they declined. the retail and market services sectors showed little change, but employment fell in the building industry. increasing use was made of flexi - time, annualized working time and part - time working to respond to variations in demand.