families, but also for food banks — which, at the same time, are reporting fewer donations. the result of all of this is that food insecurity is becoming more widespread — and more difficult to resolve. the ripple effects expand across the economy, as food insecurity drives economic inequality, which in turn is a barrier to cultivating a healthy workforce. and a healthy workforce is what we need to keep our economy strong. at the new york fed — and across the federal reserve system — one of our key areas of focus is to better understand the economic drivers and social determinants of health. we have been hosting a series of events that bring together experts on economic inequality and the needs of low - and moderate - income communities in our district. today ’ s event on food insecurity is part of that larger effort. but we recognize it ’ s not enough to merely study the issue. the role of our community development team is to champion promising solutions by connecting people, programs, and proposals with funding. up to 40 percent of food produced in the united states goes to waste 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches each year, so there is a huge opportunity to distribute that unused food to those who need it. you ’ ll be hearing more about that later today. but first, we ’ ll start off with a presentation from professor tashara leak. she ’ ll frame the discussion by talking about how food insecurity affects the health of children — and how that, in turn, shapes their economic prospects as they grow older. then, we ’ ll convene a panel of business and government leaders, along with impact investors, who will spotlight some of the innovative work being done to make healthy and affordable food more accessible. thank you all for joining us. and with that, i ’ ll turn it over to professor leak. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

timothy f geithner : systemic risk and financial markets testimony of mr timothy f geithner, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, before the committee on financial services, us house of representatives, washington dc, 24 july 2008. * * * good morning, chairman frank, ranking member bachus and other members of the committee. thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify today. i very much welcome the opportunity to appear before you with chairman cox of the securities and exchange committee ( sec ). the federal reserve and the sec are working very closely together in navigating through the present challenges, and my colleagues at the fed and i very much appreciate his, and his colleagues ’, support and cooperation. the u. s. and global financial systems are going through a very challenging period of adjustment. the critical imperative today is to help facilitate that adjustment and to cushion its impact on the broader economy. the forces that made the system vulnerable to this crisis took a long time to build up, and the system will need some time to work through their aftermath. looking forward, the united states will have to undertake substantial reforms to the framework of policy, regulation and oversight of the financial system. there was a case for reform before this crisis. the regulatory framework in the united states was designed in a different time for a very different type of financial system than the one we have today. nonetheless, many observers believed that this framework, although messy and complex, worked reasonably well. it is harder to make that case today. the financial system plays a vital role in long - term economic growth by helping to efficiently allocate the resources of savers to those individuals and firms with ideas and the capacity to put those ideas into action. and the financial system plays a critical role in economic stability by affecting the capacity of the real economy to withstand shocks and the ability of macroeconomic policy to mitigate the impact of those shocks. the challenge is in achieving the right balance between efficiency and resilience, between innovation and stability. our financial system has many strengths, and we need to examine ways to build on those while making the system more resilient to future shocks. achieving this balance will involve a very complicated set of policy choices. until we get through this crisis, it will be hard to make definitive judgments about the appropriate scope and nature of the changes that will be necessary. any reform must offer the prospect of a substantial improvement in outcomes relative to potential costs. and those