the fomc is prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed to support the economic recovery and to return inflation over time to levels consistent with our mandate. of course, in considering possible further actions, the fomc will take account of the potential costs and risks of nonconventional policies, and, as always, the committee ’ s actions are contingent on incoming information about the economic outlook and financial conditions. references barnichon, regis, and andrew figura ( 2010 ). “ what drives movements in the unemployment rate? a decomposition of the beveridge curve, ” finance and economics discussion series 2010 – 48. washington : board of governors of the federal reserve system, august. bernanke, ben ( 2007 ). “ federal reserve communications, ” speech delivered at the cato institute 25th annual monetary conference, washington, november 14. see bernanke ( 2010b ). bernanke, ben ( 2010a ). “ the economic outlook and monetary policy, ” speech delivered at “ macroeconomic challenges : the decade ahead, ” a symposium sponsored by the federal reserve bank of kansas city, held in jackson hole, wyo., august 26 – 28. bernanke, ben ( 2010b ). “ monetary policy report to the congress, ” statement before the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs, u. s. senate, july 21. d ’ amico, stefania, and thomas b. king ( 2010 ). “ flow and stock effects of large - scale treasury purchases, ” finance and economics discussion series 2010 – 52. washington : board of governors of the federal reserve system, september. dickens, william t. ( 2009 ). “ a new method for estimating time variation in the nairu, ” in jeff fuhrer, jane s. little, yolanda k. kodrzycki, and giovanni p. olivei, eds., understanding inflation and the implications for monetary policy : a phillips curve retrospective. cambridge, mass. : mit press, pp. 205 – 28. dowling, thomas, marcello estevao, and evridiki tsounta ( 2010 ). “ the great recession and structural unemployment, ” in international monetary fund country report, 10 – 248. washington : imf, july, pp. 4 – 13. fleischman, charles, and john m. roberts ( 2010 ). “ a multivariate estimate of trends and cycles, ” unpublished paper, board of governors of the

regulation : this still places the heaviest demands on the central bank in terms of staff resources assigned to authorising, regulating and supervising the very large number of firms and funds involved in the business of exporting financial services. adaptation of the national system to comply with the requirements of the euro absorbed much of the bank ’ s work in the 1990s and into the new millennium, while a new emphasis on consumer protection responded to acknowledged weaknesses in that area. our currency centre rose to the challenge of printing a share of the new euro notes, with ever improving security features. but the design of the euro, topic of tonight ’ s t. k. whitaker lecture to be given by professor harold james of princeton university, did not, as many had assumed, protect members from macro - financial distress. the past few years have been probably the busiest ever for the bank as it has raced to stem or meet outflows and repair the damage to the banking system that has so undermined national prosperity. with industry promotion no longer part of the bank ’ s statutory mandate, the regulatory agenda has shifted into an unapologetically intrusive mode. regulations are being enforced with sizable penalties imposed for violations. a graduated but intensive and unremitting programme of specific required deliverables is being imposed on the banks to try to ensure that they will deal effectively with the admittedly challenging task of getting ahead of the still - growing mortgage arrears problem, both by getting those who can back on schedule, and modifying loans in the case of those who cannot do so. the bank is currently also playing its part in engaging with external partners in seeking to limit and smooth the impact on irish balance sheets of the indebtedness accumulated as a result of the overly expansive decision to socialise banking losses, to help accelerate recovery of employment on a sustainable basis. bis central bankers ’ speeches