americans have the opportunity to take advantage of the best education this country offers, opportunity that is based on talent, not on the economic fortune of one ’ s parents. and finally, the prospect for building a political base for confronting our fiscal challenges requires that americans expect more from their politicians, and raising the overall quality of education is probably an important part of getting better policy results in a democracy. let me end by noting that by many measures the immediate economic landscape looks reasonably favorable. the u. s. expansion has proven quite resilient. we enter the new year with what appears to be a pretty solid underlying pace of growth. core inflation is moderate, and various measures of inflation expectations suggest confidence in the outlook for price stability. estimates of structural productivity growth remains high, although there has been some moderation recently. the pace of global growth has moderated a bit, but most forecasts anticipate a quite strong and broad - based expansion. the imf ’ s projection is just over four percent for real global gdp growth. in the financial markets, this broadly positive outlook has been accompanied by a dramatic reduction in risk premia, leaving the price of insurance unusually low against a less favorable or more volatile environment. whether this confidence is justified and whether the u. s. economy does as well in the future as it did over the past decade or so, will depend critically on how successful we are in meeting these challenges in the areas of fiscal sustainability, and over the longer terms in trade policy and education.

jobs. not only are students gaining real world experience by working in shared facilities while they are in school, but strong connections between local businesses and higher education institutions help workers train for jobs that are available, and help employers find the skilled workers they need. during my last trip to the region, i saw firsthand how universities and companies can successfully work together during my visits to the state university of new york nanotech center and the production facilities at global foundries. of course, rpi has a long history of developing cutting edge technologies and fostering startup companies. rpi ’ s emerging ventures ecosystem initiative provides an excellent example bis central bankers ’ speeches of how a leading university can help local firms access the knowledge and intellectual property provided by its faculty and students. these types of collaborations are a key ingredient to improving the competitiveness of local businesses and increasing the relevance of the universities to the communities they serve. we should take every opportunity to exploit these partnerships as much as possible to unleash their full potential. the strong foundation that has already been built has clearly been successful, and i expect these partnerships will support the region ’ s economic vitality going forward. college graduates finding jobs finally, i know that many of you here today are students, and you may be concerned about your ability to find a good job upon graduation. there is no doubt that this is a difficult time to be graduating from college and starting your career. while finding a job has gotten a bit easier over the past few years, finding a good job can still be a challenge. indeed, research we ’ ve conducted at the new york fed finds that underemployment among recent college graduates has continued to climb even as the unemployment rate has fallen. this is a troubling trend, and one we are actively trying to better understand. despite the challenges now facing recent college graduates, i want to assure you that the value of a college degree remains high. while the great recession and its aftermath have made it more difficult to find a job out of college these past few years, those without a college degree have had an even tougher time. students who major in technical fields – such as engineering, mathematics and computer science – have tended to have a much easier time finding a good job and have earned a high return on their educational investment. although it is true that the labor market has been difficult for college graduates in recent years, i am confident that most of you will find good jobs, especially as the labor market continues to improve