a large degree the negative impulse from global factors. indeed, the unfolding of our monetary policy measures will ensure that financial conditions will remain very favourable, shielding the economy against the external headwinds and laying out the conditions for the build - up of domestic price pressures. at the same time, we are attentive to the possible side effects of the present monetary policy measures. these need to be carefully and continuously monitored. the ecb strategy review in january, the governing council decided to launch a review of the ecb ’ s monetary policy strategy. after more than 16 years, it was time to conduct a thorough review taking stocks of the profound structural changes that have intervened since the 2003 strategy exercise, and reflecting on what these changes and new trends mean for our framework. this process is expected to last one year and it will be conducted by the eurosystem and the ecb staff. we will also reach out to academics, members of parliament – including the european parliament – representatives from the civil society and business, and seek the opinion of financial market participants on selected issues. the scope of the strategic review will be comprehensive. that means that we will look at the quantitative formulation of price stability, together with the approaches and instruments by which price stability is achieved. we will also reflect on how other considerations, such as financial stability, employment and environmental sustainability, can be relevant in pursuing the ecb ’ s mandate. we will conduct a review of the effectiveness and the potential side effects of the monetary policy toolkit developed over the past decade. finally, the review will include an examination of directions in which the economic and monetary analyses through which the ecb assesses the risks to price stability could be enhanced, as well as an evaluation of our communication practices. our strategy review will have a long - term perspective, with the aim to build an efficient and lasting framework. it will not interfere with our meeting - by - meeting policy agenda, in which we will continue to set policy as appropriate given the evolving outlook. our reaction function is clear and entirely data - driven. as we said after our last monetary policy deliberations, “ the governing council continues to stand ready to adjust all of its instruments, as appropriate, to ensure that inflation moves towards its aim in a sustained manner, in line with its commitment to symmetry ”. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

glenn stevens : “ reform ” and economic growth remarks by mr glenn stevens, governor of the reserve bank of australia, to the national reform summit, hosted by the australian and the australian financial review, sydney, 26 august 2015. * * * thank you for the invitation to take part in this very important discussion. it is pleasing to see so many influential people coming together for a discussion about the country ’ s economic future. in a sense, i am really an observer here, because the things you need to grapple with today are mostly outside my remit. australia ’ s monetary system is still – i trust – well supported by all the key stakeholders here. it has helped to deliver good outcomes. our financial sector is robust and stable. but a stable monetary standard and a strong financial system, while necessary conditions for prosperity, are not sufficient ones. more is needed – and that ’ s why you are here. your topic is “ reform ” in the broad. it ’ s a term that will be used frequently over the next few hours. what does it mean? often it is presented through the lens of allocative efficiency, otherwise known as productivity. and this is very important. ideally, production and demand each face and respond to, without distortion or impediment, underlying relative costs. those relative costs are given by the state of human and physical capital, technology, natural resource endowments and so on. generally, economists think optimal allocative efficiency is achieved by removing barriers to competition in markets – be they tariffs, subsidies, protectionist devices, unnecessary regulation – and allowing relative prices to allocate productive resources. for most products, competitive markets will deliver the greatest choice at the lowest price to informed consumers. granted, there are various exceptions to the generalisation above. where markets are “ natural monopolies ” or externalities exist, for example, regulation is called for. good outcomes won ’ t occur if consumers are not well informed. and so on. nonetheless, i would venture that the biggest gains to prosperity over the past 25 years have come from more competition. ( aside, that is, from gains from the terms of trade, about which we can do nothing and which usually don ’ t keep coming ). competition lowers prices and costs. it promotes the drive to do better, which spurs innovation. minimising distortions due to the tax system also has a role in enhancing allocative efficiency. these things remain important. you should talk about them today