alan greenspan : policy coordination speech by mr alan greenspan, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the opening of the new hm treasury building, london, uk, 25 september 2002. * * * dedication speeches are by their nature forward looking, but lest we believe that in opening this building we should focus solely on future challenges, i feel the necessity of reminding us all that the future is not always new. i myself was reminded of this by an item on the web site of her majesty ’ s treasury. “ in 1711, ” the item notes, “ the treasury unveiled a scheme to secure government debt by authorising its subscription into the capital of the south sea company - - government creditors received stock in the company. when the south sea bubble burst in 1720, however, thousands of investors were affected and the chancellor of the exchequer was sent to the tower of london. ” although the web site does not elaborate, that eighteenth century chancellor was guilty of dubious practices that appear eerily contemporary. fortunately, modern chancellors, including the eminent incumbent, appear at the tower these days in a more benign context. in a more serious vein, i am daily reminded of the special relationship the federal reserve has had over the decades with decisionmakers from the british government. literally twenty feet from my desk are plaques commemorating the numerous world war ii meetings in our board room between the combined military chiefs of the united states and great britain that in the words on one plaque, “... set the pattern for allied collaboration and the successful prosecution of world war ii. ” but the federal reserve ’ s association with britain ’ s monetary authorities goes back even further. the tie between the bank of england and the federal reserve was cemented during the 1920s in that extraordinary relationship between benjamin strong, the president of the new york federal reserve bank, and montague norman, the governor of the bank of england. their correspondence yields quite fascinating insight into the way they interpreted events that are now important history. the ties developed then between the federal reserve and british monetary authorities endure to this day. the mutual trust reached a point that in 1999 the bank of england asked donald kohn, then head of our monetary affairs division, and now a governor, to review key aspects of the bank of england ’ s monetary policy procedures and make recommendations for improvement. we were duly impressed because, to us at the federal reserve, the bank of england projects a nearly mythical presence as the developer of much of the central banking

lisa d cook : global linkages - supply, spillovers, and common challenge speech by ms lisa d cook, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at " global linkages in a post - pandemic world " 2023 asia economic policy conference, sponsored by the federal reserve bank of san francisco center for pacific basin studies, san francisco, california, 16 november 2023. * * * thank you, sylvain, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. 1 it is fitting and timely that today we are gathered here to talk about global linkages. it is fitting not only because we are beside the golden gate - where, just a few blocks away, one can marvel at the massive cargo ships making their way to port - but also because this conference has once again brought together scholars and friends from as far away as shanghai, atlanta, and fontainebleau. and it is timely because the discussion of the ties that bind us is as important as ever. to start off this conference on global linkages, i am going to discuss supply shocks, policy spillovers, and common challenges faced by monetary policymakers in recent years and going forward. when the global pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, economies around the world shut down or sharply limited activity, especially for inperson services. also, it quickly became apparent that shutdowns in any one economy were exacerbated by reduced availability of supplies from other economies. policymakers around the world faced the common challenge of supporting incomes and limiting the scarring from temporary shutdowns in activity. the response was similar across countries : fiscal support, particularly to help those most in need, although the magnitude differed, in part because of differences in fiscal space. initially aimed at preventing sharp financial and economic deterioration, monetary policy easing was later extended to support the nascent economic recovery. policy rates were cut to or held near zero in both advanced and emerging market economies. a wide range of central banks also bought assets to support market functioning and provide stimulus once overnight policy rates hit their effective lower bounds. as economies gradually reopened, demand surged, especially for goods. but supply chains were slower to recover, leading to a global surge in inflation. that surge was followed by a further upswing in inflation after february 2022, when russia's invasion of ukraine caused a shock to global supplies of commodities, including oil and natural gas, food and fertilizers, and numerous manufacturing inputs.