rates, involving a gradual and orderly appreciation of their currencies vis - avis the major convertible currencies, is also in the interests of the emerging economies concerned and in the interests of the international community. isn ’ t there a risk that the fiscal consolidation in the majority of european countries will slow down the economic recovery? no, i don ’ t think so. a consolidation of the recovery and a return to sustainable growth crucially depend on confidence : the confidence of households, the confidence of firms and the confidence of savers. the pursuit of credible and reassuring fiscal adjustment measures will contribute to the consolidation of the recovery because such measures inspire confidence in all those on whom economic prosperity depends. but has sufficient account been taken of the social risks involved? the main problem consists of the level of unemployment. as i said, a return to confidence, in particular fiscal confidence, is essential for the consolidation of the recovery and thus for the creation of lasting employment. the confidence to which you refer is measured in particular by the credit rating agencies. isn ’ t it necessary to reassess their role? why can ’ t the eu have its own credit rating agency? this is one of the major areas that is being looked into at the global level. past events have shown how risky it could be to rely blindly on the analyses of the credit rating agencies. financial institutions and investors must assume overall responsibility for the decisions that they take. how can monetary policy and eu economic policy be better coordinated? we have a monetary federation, which has provided monetary stability on a continental scale for 330 million citizens. necessarily, this must be accompanied by very close monitoring of fiscal policies and strict compliance by fiscal policies with the reference framework that we set ourselves. on behalf of the governing council, i have always asked for strict compliance with the stability and growth pact and the introduction of closer monitoring of developments in competitiveness within the euro area. today, we ask the european commission and president van rompuy, who have been charged with this task, to put forward proposals that go as far as possible in this regard : we need to significantly enhance fiscal and economic governance in the euro area. does global governance simply mean the convergence or merging of the approaches followed by the main international bodies? a lot of changes are happening in this regard : the imf is in the process of reforming its internal governance, with emerging countries being granted more seats. the european countries have agreed to reduce their representation. with regard to the informal governance of the

work, wages and monetary policy speech given by andrew g haldane chief economist, bank of england national science and media museum, bradford 20 june 2017 the views expressed here are not necessarily those of the bank of england or the monetary policy committee. i would like to thank will abel, shiv chowla, brad speigner and arthur turrell for their help in preparing this text. i would like to thank alina barnett, nick bate, tom belsham, stuart berry, melissa davey, kristin forbes, rich harrison, will holman, david latto, clare macallan, gareth ramsay and michael saunders for comments. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches it is wonderful to be here in bradford, just a few miles away from where i grew up. the city has of course a rich commercial history dating from the industrial revolution. back then, it was a thriving hub for textiles and other manufacturing industries. the city ’ s architecture bears witness to the rich civic investment that took place around this time, with the public and private sector often working in partnership. the decline of the uk textiles industry from the mid - 20th century was mirrored in bradford ’ s own fortunes. like many industrial cities, bradford went through a wrenching transition and still bears some of the scars. but that retreating tide now seems, decisively, to have turned. i am delighted to see civic and commercial investment beginning to return to bradford over the past few years. those scars are starting to heal. of course, there is plenty still left to do with parts of the city still among the poorest in the uk. but compared with when i last visited a few years ago, there is now a real sense of opportunity and optimism in bradford, lifting the spirits of the businesses operating here and the people living here. regional visits such as these are the most useful and most interesting part of my job. over the course of two days, i will speak and listen to over two dozen businesses of all shapes, sizes and sectors. i will speak and listen to a number of charities, not - for - profit enterprises and schools. i will do a walkabout in sunbridge wells, an underground parade for retail and leisure and a great example of that civic investment and entrepreneurial spirit operating once again in the city. and i will have with me a film crew, distilling some of the key bits of my visit to a wider audience across the