robert holzmann governor oesterreichische nationalbank introduction vienna, november 26, 2020 globalization and pandemics – pol antras global economy lecture 2020 ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the vienna institute for international economic studies ( wiiw ) and the oesterreichische nationalbank, i welcome to this year ’ s global economy lecture, which is the 25th of its kind. we have a very distinguished speaker today, professor pol antras from harvard university, who is joining us from cambridge, massachusetts. a very warm welcome to you, professor antras, we are very honored that you are taking your time today, on thanksgiving day, to present your views on “ globalization and pandemics. ” the global economy lecture series has existed since 1999, but this is the very first time that it takes place online. while we would certainly have preferred meeting you all in person at the oenb premises in the usual setting, with a reception and informal networking after the lecture, i have to admit that the new format also has its merits. pol antras would probably not have agreed to fly over to europe for a lecture on thanksgiving day. and, besides, a physical meeting would probably not have attracted as many participants as we can welcome today. over the twenty years of its existence, the global economy lecture has hosted a number of very distinguished speakers, and it has featured all the major trends in international economics, and in particular in international trade and global value chains : from the transition process in central and eastern europe or in asia to the effects of major trade agreements, the emergence of multinational enterprises, and the digital revolution of production processes. today ’ s lecture is going to cover another new phenomenon in global trade : the covid - 19 pandemic has led to a temporary collapse of world trade links. supply disruptions occurred mainly at the beginning of the crisis. demand increased markedly for a number of specific items, e. g. health products and it equipment. these goods are produced in highly organized global value chains, which were subject to severe disruptions due to restrictions in transport and labor mobility. industries with shorter safety stocks were hit hardest. more recently, the largest problems have resulted primarily from weak global demand for final goods. publisher : oesterreichische nationalbank communications division otto - wagner - platz 3, 1090 vienna the pandemic itself is a tail event, with enormous short - to medium - term implications for global growth and trade. but we would

ewald nowotny : european monetary union – lessons from the debt crisis opening remarks by prof dr ewald nowotny, governor of the central bank of the republic of austria, at the 40th economics conference of the central bank of the republic of austria “ european monetary union – lessons from the debt crisis ”, vienna, 10 may 2012. * * * ladies and gentlemen, let me warmly welcome you to the 40th economics conference of the oesterreichische nationalbank. in particular, i ’ d like to welcome austrian federal chancellor werner faymann and this year ’ s keynote speakers, peter praet, member of the executive board and chief economist at the european central bank, and klaus regling, ceo of the european financial stability facility. and it is a great pleasure to welcome all other high - level speakers, representing the european economic and financial architecture, academia and european institutions. over the past four decades this conference has offered a platform for discussion between policymakers and economists with an institutional and academic background. it has played a useful role in creating new ideas and stimulating political reactions to ever - changing economic environments. this year ’ s conference, entitled “ european monetary union : lessons from the debt crisis ” focuses on economic developments in europe and the corresponding policy reactions from 2007 until today. recent developments in international bond markets indicate that unfortunately, the fiscal problems in the euro area cannot be considered to be completely solved yet. the aim of the conference is to identify possible further policy responses to the crisis and to offer a forum for discussion on how to tackle future challenges. from a historical perspective, sovereign debt crises are clearly recurrent phenomena. going back to the pre - world war ii period, various european states ran into difficulties servicing their debt and some of them defaulted. ( reinhart, c. m. and k. s. rogoff ( 2008 ). this time is different : a panoramic view of eight centuries of financial crises ). since world war ii, however, there have been no cases of sovereign default in western europe. rather, sovereign default became a phenomenon typical of emerging and developing countries. due to their high dependency on international lending and their high responsiveness to changes in the monetary policy of creditor countries, fluctuations in exchange rates and commodity prices, many of these – mostly african or latin american – countries encountered severe financing problems. hence, debt restructurings in latin american countries has been the topic of numerous economic publications. thus, it was quite an unhappy innovation when