timothy f geithner : some perspectives on u. s. monetary policy remarks by mr timothy f geithner, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, at the new york association for business economics, new york city, 11 january 2006. * * * thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. the craft and the discipline of the business economist have long had a special place in the federal reserve system. and i am pleased to have the chance to meet with this distinguished group in the profession. my remarks are my personal views and do not attempt to represent the views of the fomc. the u. s. economy has entered its 17th quarter of economic expansion. as has been the case throughout history, this expansion has features that distinguish it from past expansions, and i ’ ll begin my talk today with a review of some of these features. growth in real gdp has been remarkably stable over the past two years, even when compared with the moderation in growth that has occurred over the previous two decades relative to the earlier part of the post - war period. these steady growth rates have hovered in the vicinity of 3. 5 percent, which is close to most estimates of the rate of potential growth in the u. s. the robustness of growth is a testament to the resiliency and flexibility of the u. s. economy in responding to adverse shocks. a key feature of this expansion is the continued strength in productivity growth. the 3. 7 percent annual rate of productivity growth the u. s. economy has averaged since the end of 2002 is well above most estimates of the underlying or structural rate of growth in productivity, which tend to be between 2. 5 and 2. 75 percent, estimates themselves that are much higher than those of a decade earlier and reflect the outstanding productivity performance of the u. s. economy in the last 10 years. much of the source of the recent productivity growth seems to be in multi factor or total factor productivity — in other words, in increases in the efficiency of business processes and the use of technology. these developments in productivity growth are important, of course, because of their potentially favorable implications for inflation dynamics and for future income growth. overall inflation has risen over the past two years, pushed up primarily by higher prices for energy and other commodities and industrial inputs. inflation excluding food and energy, however, has been quite moderate, in part due to very modest growth in unit labor costs. survey based

william c dudley : opportunities for economic growth in puerto rico remarks by mr william c dudley, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, to representatives of puerto rico's business and academic communities, san juan, puerto rico, 29 november 2016. * * * jason bram, tony davis, andrew haughwout and joseph tracy assisted in preparing these remarks. i am very pleased to be here and to have this opportunity to speak with representatives of puerto rico ’ s business and academic communities. in my remarks, i will discuss the lessons learned from municipalities in the united states that have faced crises over the years ― such as new york city ― and what those outcomes might imply for puerto rico as it seeks to restore and sustain economic growth. i will also touch briefly on the puerto rico small business survey, a new survey from the new york fed that focuses on the business performance, financing needs and borrowing experiences of firms across the island. as always, what i have to say reflects my own views and not those of the federal open market committee or the federal reserve system. my meeting with you today is part of the new york fed ’ s continuing efforts to understand what is going on at the grassroots level within our federal reserve district. we plan these trips so we can interact with a diverse group of stakeholders. these meetings help me get a more complete picture of economic conditions on the island and a fuller understanding of the major issues and concerns. this is the third time we have visited puerto rico in the past five years. yesterday, i met with governor - elect rossello to discuss the transition into his new role and the key challenges for his upcoming term. i also spent time with members of el colaboratorio, a shared workspace organized by the foundation for puerto rico. i attended a roundtable discussion with local businesses and spoke with former and current members of several of the new york fed ’ s advisory councils. earlier this morning, i met with the heads of a number of financial institutions and the university of puerto rico ’ s interim president, celeste freytes. following this visit, i will meet with the leadership from parallel18, an economic development initiative that attracts early - stage, highpotential startups to puerto rico. finally, i will join the leadership of the boys and girls clubs of puerto rico for a discussion on the organization ’ s initiatives and a site visit to one of the clubs to learn about workforce development programs and youth services. as we all know, the