and embarking on programmes that substantially expanded their monetary bases ( quantitative easing ) in an attempt to push up domestic demand while depreciating their currencies. despite these unprecedented interventions economic recovery in europe, the united kingdom and the united states has remained stubbornly subdued. this can best be illustrated by comparing the current path of the recovery in the united states with previous recoveries in the post - war period ( figure 2 ). figure 2 path of real gdp since end of recession gdp index gdp index unemployment in many of these countries has lifted sharply and, of particular concern is the high level being recorded amongst young people. in greece and spain, for example, the rate of unemployment for those under 25 years of age has risen to around 50 %. to put this in perspective, the comparable number in new zealand is 12 % ( figure 3 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches figure 3 unemployment rate : under 25 ( sa, % ) the social and political ramifications of these levels of unemployment in the eurozone are considerable and weigh heavily on the economic policies that governments are able to pursue. cpi inflation in the western economies, on the other hand, is largely stable at around 2 % and the far more pressing financial issue facing these countries has been the build - up in sovereign debt. as can be seen from figure 4 a number of european nations, the united kingdom and the united states all have levels of debt in excess of 50 % of gdp. the sovereign debt crisis has become critical in the eurozone as the southern, peripheral states of greece, portugal, italy and spain have struggled to implement domestic economic austerity and structural reform policies aimed to placate financial markets and reduce their debt and borrowing costs. their individual ability to trade their way to stability and growth has been circumscribed by membership of the eurozone and consequent adoption of the euro currency. for at least the past year, the world has watched, in a combination of concern and fascination, as eurozone governments and the imf have moved from one crisis meeting to another in the hope of finding a solution that will maintain the integrity of the european bloc but also the economies of the constituent sovereign states. at this point it is not at all clear how the crisis will resolve. what is evident is that the eurozone as a whole is falling into recession with the weaker southern states pulling the stronger northern states down. while countries within the european bloc undertake much of their trade with each other, lower

good - paying jobs. another important question concerns the consequences of growing student debt for the overall economy. to investigate this question further, we linked our ccp dataset to student enrollment records from the national student clearinghouse in order to analyze the relationship between homeownership, educational attainment and student debt. not surprisingly, our research shows a strong positive association between educational attainment and homeownership, consistent with the fact that higher educational attainment is associated with higher average earnings. interestingly, this relationship appears to hold irrespective of family background, suggesting that colleges may be successful in “ leveling the playing field ” across students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. at the same time, our analysis reveals that those with significant student debt are much less likely to own a home at any given age than those who completed their education with little or no student debt. this finding is consistent with other past and ongoing research here at the new york fed that points to the potential longer - term negative implications of student debt on homeownership and other types of consumer spending. of course, homeownership is more than just consumption — it has historically been an important form of wealth accumulation. for a large share of households, housing equity is the principal form of wealth. thus, changes in the way we finance post - secondary education could also have important implications for the distribution of wealth. before turning it over to my colleagues, i would like to comment briefly on the importance of college costs, financing and access to higher education. it is well known that the average earnings premium from having a college education is high and has risen over the past few decades, in part because of a decline in real average earnings for those without a college degree. in addition to higher earnings, a college education is associated with increased homeownership, as i just discussed. the economic and social returns to having a well - educated and skilled labor force are also well documented. however, i would like to highlight another important role of higher education : it is a pathway to and engine of upward income mobility. i believe that income mobility — the degree to which individuals or families can move up or down in the income distribution over time — is a foundational element for a well - functioning society and indicates the ability of an economy to provide opportunities for all. as i have discussed previously, important research by stanford economist raj chetty and his co - authors has shown that intergenerational income mobility in the united states —