. data released last month show that, despite the financial crisis and great recession, net worth rose noticeably across all age groups from 1999 through 2012. now, let ’ s bring the boomers into the picture. they ’ re called the boomers for a reason. the huge wave of that generation simply overwhelms the charts. born between 1946 and 1964, bis central bankers ’ speeches the youngest boomers are turning 50 this year. and so, right now, we are seeing a very predictable demographic bulge of more people, putting away more savings. this is mother nature at work, and it ’ s where things get interesting. why does a central banker care? first, the financial decisions made by individuals are of course important to those individuals. but when a large swath of the population is making similar decisions, the impact on the broader economy can be significant. second, where individuals decide to store their wealth also matters a great deal. allocation matters canadians, it won ’ t surprise you, love their houses. we hold a lot of our wealth in real estate. this practice preceded the crisis, and it was reinforced by it. you may recall – it even may have been your experience – in the 1990s, the share of household wealth in financial assets, such as equities, was increasing faster than that in real estate. but since then, real estate has become more attractive and has grown as a share of total household assets. with the “ dot - com ” bust and enron and other corporate scandals in the rear - view mirror, with low interest rates helping keep mortgage payments manageable, and with cocooning taking hold, housing was increasingly seen as a safe and attractive investment. for the sector as a whole, real estate assets accounted for 40 per cent of total wealth in 2012, up quite a bit from 32 per cent in 1999. economists have their own way of interpreting these trends. we see some forms of assets primarily as “ stores of value, ” while others work through the system to fund investments and add to the productive potential of the economy. savings that fund infrastructure and business investment are “ being put to work, ” which can help improve productivity, while savings that go into housing are seen as contributing less to productive potential. this shift toward housing was also evident in many developed countries before the crisis hit and could have contributed to a slower growth rate for productivity. layering on the crisis importantly, the fallout from the financial crisis has worked to magnify some of these

jorg asmussen : economic convergence across central, eastern and south eastern europe – achievements and challenges speech by mr jorg asmussen, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the conference on european economic integration ( ceei ) 2013 “ financial cycles and the real economy – lessons for cesee ”, vienna, 18 november 2013. * * * dear ewald, good evening ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be here with you tonight. i would like to thank the oenb for the invitation to share some thoughts on the region, on which the oenb has developed analytical excellence that is beneficial to the entire eurosystem. i will focus my remarks on selected experiences of countries in central, eastern, and southeastern europe on their path of economic and institutional convergence towards the rest of europe. i will argue that both the successes and the challenges associated with the convergence process point to two basic lessons. first, that we should never relax in the pursuit of domestic policies oriented towards financial stability and sustainable growth. and second, that we need not just more, but also better european integration. in what follows, i will use the term western balkans to refer to the six eu candidate and potential candidate countries in the region : albania, bosnia and herzegovina, kosovo, the former yugoslav republic of macedonia, montenegro, and serbia ]. i will use the term central and eastern european countries to refer to seven eu member states outside the euro area, namely bulgaria, croatia, the czech republic, hungary, lithuania, poland, and romania. and i will refer to the two groups of countries taken together as central, eastern and south - eastern europe. i. the good experiences with convergence if you had to pick three “ good experiences ” which countries in the region have made over the years in terms of convergence, what would your choice be? 1. increasing living standards for me, the first good experience i would bring home is the improvement in the region ’ s living standards : between 2000 and 2012, real per - capita gdp, adjusted for differences in purchasing power, increased on average by close to 50 per cent both in central and eastern europe and in the western balkans. in lithuania, per capita income, measured in this way, increased from 35 per cent of the euro area average in 2000 to 65 per cent in 2012. on the other side of the spectrum, the living standard in the former yugoslav republic of macedonia increased only from 24 per cent of the euro area average in 2000 to