the predictive power of google searches in forecasting unemployment ”, bank of italy working paper no 891. 19 see algan, y., e. beasley, f. guyot, k. higa, f. martin and c. senik ( 2016 ), “ big data measures of well - being : evidence from a google well - being index in the united states ”, cepremap working paper no 1605. 20 see also gil, m., j. perez, a. urtasun and a. jesus sanchez ( 2017 ), “ nowcasting private consumption : traditional indicators, uncertainty measures, and the role of internet search query data ”, 61st isi world statistics congress, marrakech, 18 july ; verbaana, r., w. bolt and c. van der cruijsen ( 2017 ), “ using debit card payments data for nowcasting dutch household consumption ”, dnb working paper no 571 ; and galbraith, j. and g. tkacz ( 2015 ), “ nowcasting gdp with electronic payments data ”, ecb statistics paper series no 10. 21 see e. g. thorsrud, l. a. ( 2016 ), “ nowcasting using news topics. big data versus big bank ”, norges bank working paper no 20 / 2016. 8 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches 22 see tobback, e., s. nardelli and d. martens ( 2017 ), “ between hawks and doves : measuring central bank communication ”, ecb working paper no 2085 ; and coenen, g. et al. ( 2017 ), “ communication of monetary policy in unconventional times ”, ecb working paper no 2080. 23 cukier, k. and v. mayer - schoenberger ( 2013 ), big data : a revolution that will transform how we live, work and think, eamon dolan. 24 see e. g. mullainathan, s. et al. ( 2017 ), “ big data in economics : evolution or revolution? ”, in matyas et al. ( ed. ), economics without borders : economic research for european policy challenges, cambridge university press, pp. 612 – 632. 25 see f. diebold ’ s comment at the 8th world congress of the econometric society on l. reichlin and m. watson ’ s seminal

between credit to greece and credit to germany. when people began having doubts regarding greece ’ s solvency, all of that came to an end. institutional investors began re - evaluating the risk profiles of all the countries of the eu. we know what happened next : spreads on lending rates began to increase, distinguishing between countries that were judged to be safe ( and therefore creditworthy ) and the rest. this crisis has taught us a lesson. it has taught us that we cannot generate either sustainable growth or a fair distribution of prosperity by amassing debt. it has also forced us to focus on the fundamentals in order to check the solidity of each individual economy. that was when we realised that the time for structural reforms had come. without the crisis, we could have given ourselves more time to implement them, and we could have accompanied the austerity plans with stimulus measures. but as that was not done when we had time, reforms have had to be implemented as a matter of urgency and in a painful manner. bis central bankers ’ speeches pierre moscovici, our minister for the economy, believes that france is the victim of “ french bashing ”, as it has reduced its deficit and undertaken fundamental reforms. what do you think? major efforts have been made, but it is important that france continues along the path of the reforms already undertaken. the government and the french people are aware of this. competitiveness remains insufficient, and improvements to public finances must stop being based on tax rises. france needs to return to fiscal stability so that firms start to invest again. should germany, the true engine of european growth, not share the fruits of its growth with its neighbours in order to foster a broad - based recovery? the real issue here is slightly different. we need to try to understand why germany is doing better than its neighbours. the answer is that germany has given itself the means to be more competitive thanks to its bold structural reforms. in the early 2000s, germany launched labour market reforms. it remains an example for the other eu countries to follow. its performance is based on the great strength of its small and medium - sized enterprises ( smes ), which are exporting and innovating. that platform needs to be preserved. but germany should not rest on its laurels and needs to foster investment, particularly investment in infrastructure. what are the prospects for europe, given that growth is no longer creating jobs? unemployment is indeed the number one problem for the governments of eu countries – starting