work abroad ) requires the adoption of policies and reforms that encourage research, facilitate the diffusion of technology and boost entrepreneurship. policies include providing incentives to increase investment in research and development ( r & d ), strengthening the links between enterprises and the academic / research community by allowing universities to commercially exploit research results and ideas, and effectively using available eu funds. alongside structural reforms, and in order to facilitate the recovery through a normalization of financial conditions, as a matter of urgency the private debt overhang problem is addressed, since it is the greatest challenge the greek banking system and the greek economy faces. on the one hand, the high stock of npls reduces bank profitability and thus constrains the supply of credit, which primarily affects bank dependent smes. on the other hand, high npls delay corporate restructuring and thus thwart the ability of viable firms to finance new investment projects. according to research by the oecd, when more industry capital is sunk in non - viable ( “ zombie ” ) firms, the average viable firm undertakes less investment than otherwise. simulations by the oecd suggest that reducing the share of capital of non - viable firms in greece to the minimum across oecd countries would be associated with a gain in investment for a typical viable firm of 4. 7 %, improving productivity - enhancing capital reallocation in the greek economy. a series of legislative and regulatory reforms have already been enacted as part of the strategy to reduce npls, such as the operational targets of individual banks, revisions of the insolvency law and the gradual setup of a secondary market for npls. in addition, a number of new measures have already been legislated as prior actions of the second review, such as the introduction of an out - of - court workout framework, the revision of corporate insolvency law and the launch of a platform for electronic auctions. besides structural reforms and npl management, growth prospects can also be improved by acting on the fiscal policy front in two ways : first, a growth friendly fiscal policy mix can be adopted. the increased emphasis on taxation needs to be reduced in favour of policies that focus on restraining and restructuring non - productive spending and making more effective and efficient use of the public sector ’ s assets, especially land. second, the medium - term fiscal target can be reduced. according to estimates by the bank of greece, a lowering of the general government primary surplus target from 2021 onwards to 2 per cent of gdp, from the

john c williams : ever upward remarks ( via videoconference ) by mr john c williams, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, at st. lawrence university, 8 september 2021. * * * as prepared for delivery good afternoon, everyone. thank you to st. lawrence university for hosting today ’ s event. it ’ s especially exciting to be here at the start of an academic year, and i hope you all have a safe and successful fall semester. the motto for new york state is “ excelsior, ” meaning “ ever upward. ” what better way to get the full new york experience than by spending time — even virtually — in the north country. these visits around the federal reserve ’ s second district are one of the highlights of my job, and something i very much look forward to doing again in person when it ’ s safe to do so. it ’ s now been about a year and a half since the pandemic took hold. over that time, there ’ s been much change : phases and stages, highs and lows, shifts and swings, downturns and reversals. the virus and its effects on the economy are ever evolving. on top of that, the unusual and extraordinary nature of this crisis means circumstances are far beyond the norm for typical economic recessions and recoveries. even while there are significant improvements in some areas, setbacks persist in many others. and now, the emergence and rapid spread of the delta variant in parts of the country and around the world has introduced a new layer of uncertainty. i ’ m here today to speak about how some of those changes are showing up in the economic data as it relates to the recovery. but it ’ s also important to remember that behind the numbers are families, businesses, and communities that have suffered and continue to face tremendous challenges of all kinds. in my remarks this afternoon i ’ ll share more about how what we are seeing in the incoming data relates to the economic picture nationally and to this region. i ’ ll also highlight some of the unique inflation dynamics we are seeing. finally, i ’ ll explain what that means for monetary policy and the path forward. before i continue, i need to give the standard fed disclaimer that the views i express today are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the federal open market committee ( fomc ) or others in the federal reserve system. dual mandate i know there are a lot of economics students in today