increasing complexity of mortgage securities, including multiple securitizations of the same loan, which made it virtually impossible for ultimate lenders to monitor the creditworthiness of borrowers – a task they, in effect, had outsourced to credit rating agencies. the absence of investor caution and due diligence was especially noticeable for the highest - rated tranches of securitized debt. elevated leverage in housing markets has meant that as prices have fallen, lenders have had to absorb an unusually high proportion of the losses. as case points out, foreclosures by lenders have added to the downward pressure on those prices. conceptually, such price declines moving down the demand curve for housing services could accelerate and cushion the adjustment in activity necessitated by previous overbuilding. i am encouraged that case the views i express are my own and not necessarily those of other members of the board of governors. the three papers discussed and their authors are as follows : ( 1 ) " financial regulation in a system context, " by stephen morris and hyun song shin, professors of economics at princeton university ; ( 2 ) " beyond leveraged losses : the balance sheet effects of the home price downturn, " by jan hatzius, chief u. s. economist at goldman sachs ; and ( 3 ) " the central role of house prices in the financial crisis : how will the market clear? " by karl case, professor of economics at wellesley college. information about the 2008 fall conference on the brookings papers on economic activity is available at the brookings website. finds the pace of declines abating in a number of markets. however, partly owing to the feedback of price declines on lenders, mortgage conditions have tightened some since the late spring readings he is using for his conclusion, and in my view, the jury is still out on whether housing prices are close to finding a bottom. the heavy involvement of financial intermediaries in amplifying the housing boom and the subsequent economic effects of the bust brings me to the morris and shin paper, which raises a host of important issues related to the systemic aspects of financial intermediation and the lessons from the recent turmoil. as they emphasize, one of the important lessons has been the greater - than - expected vulnerability of secured financing when intermediaries are engaged in maturity, credit, and liquidity transformation. recall that the turmoil first came onto the balance sheets of the banks through the collapse of the asset - backed commercial paper market last fall before it affected

christopher j waller : welcoming remarks - 2024 international journal of central banking conference welcoming remarks by mr christopher j waller, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the 2024 international journal of central banking conference, rome, italy, 24 june 2024. * * * thank you, stefano, and thank you to the central bank of italy ( cbi ) for hosting this year's conference. when it is in the news, central banking often looks like the work of individual policymakers handing down their decisions. in fact, it is a team effort of many people working together, and that is also the case for editing the international journal of central banking ( ijcb ) and planning this conference. i have a long list of people to thank who did the lion's share of that work during the year that i have served as managing editor. but for those who may not know it, let me first review the history of the journal and then discuss what this conference will address. in the summer of 2004, the bank for international settlements ( bis ), the european central bank, and the group of ten central banks agreed to support the development of a new publication focused on the theory and practice of central banking. we didn't launch this journal because there was a shortage of research on central banking or of journals eager to publish it. far from it. central bankers themselves continue to publish peer - reviewed research in leading journals, not to mention many working papers published by central banks and other outlets. this work was prevalent, but there was a sense that there lacked a place for scholarly research that focused exclusively on central banking and could serve as a forum for the community of central bankers around the world. the creation of the international journal of central banking filled this deficit. the primary objectives of the ijcb are to widely disseminate the best policy - relevant and applied research on central banking and to promote communication among researchers inside and outside central banks. we do this with publication of the journal, which will now be coming out six times a year, and with the added attention of this conference, which presents research on timely policy topics. the journal has attracted distinguished managing editors, including my colleagues from the federal reserve and my immediate predecessor, luc laeven from the european central bank. we have the strong support now of nearly 55 sponsoring institutions, including the central bank of italy and also the host of last year's conference, the central bank of ireland. in 2023