draghi : first of all i hope that by then the recovery will be on its way. there is a risk but i think fears are exaggerated. banks have done a lot already in raising capital. we should reach a globally accepted definition of capital. the basel committee and the fsb are working so that the timing chosen for the implementation of the new rules do not prejudge economic recovery. handelsblatt : are you confident that we will have a globally coordinated regulation? lately we have seen a lot of tension between the eu and the us. mr draghi : i think those tensions are being exaggerated. many of the proposals now being publicly discussed, like the “ volcker rule ” or a tax on banks in the us and the uk, have already been discussed by the fsb. handelsblatt : you have been criticised for having worked at goldman sachs, the us investment bank accused of having been involved in dubious transactions with greece. what can you tell us about it? mr draghi : when i left the italian treasury, in 2001, we had no rules in italy forbidding to take a position in an investment bank. nevertheless, i went to harvard and taught for six months there. then i entered goldman sachs. since the beginning i made it clear that having worked 10 years with governments and government officials, it would be very embarrassing to ask them to do business with goldman. i therefore insisted to develop my own clients in the private sector. and that ’ s what happened. i did that for about 3 – 4 years. handelsblatt : any country among your clients? mr draghi : no, i have never made any transaction with any government. the reason is simple : i was too busy doing corporate investment banking with private clients. handelsblatt : have you ever been to greece? mr draghi : i have never been to greece for working reasons. those transactions were done before my arrival at goldman sachs. there have been further transactions with greece but i have never been involved. i would also like to point out that i was not deputy ceo, because that position does not exist at goldman sachs. handelsblatt : when you think now about goldman sachs and greece, do you think it was a good idea for goldman to help greece mask its budget? mr draghi : that ’ s where the difference lies, the difference in purposes. one is debt management, the other one is debt concealment. that concealment is a very bad thing

about 4 percent for more than half a century, as shown in the left - hand - side panel of chart 4. however, once we plot the growth rates of individual economies, the diversity in the nature of the region ’ s economic development becomes immediately apparent. the graph also reveals that there were shifts in the region ’ s “ rising stars. ” japan recorded double digit growth in the 1960s, but its growth rate became subdued thereafter. instead, the asian nies took over the position of very rapid growth economies, followed by china more recently. if we redraw the picture, not against time horizons but against income levels, as shown in the right - hand - side panel of chart 4, there emerges a pattern of development stages. growth rate tends to become higher once a country makes the transition from the low - income to the middle - income stage. the growth rate reaches its peak when an economy is at the middleincome stage. after that, it tends to become slower, especially once a country enters the high - income stage. ii. three traps for growth can asian countries sustain their rapid economic growth for the foreseeable future? if history is any guide, we could expect another rising star to emerge in asia. it is by no means guaranteed, however. even if it is the case, we cannot entirely count on one single rising star. the growth rate of relatively high - income asian economies needs also to be sustained at a reasonably high level if the prosperity of the regional economy as a whole is to be maintained. i believe there are three traps which we must avoid falling into if we are to sustain economic growth in asia. despite the heterogeneity which we have observed, these three traps are relevant to many countries in the region, albeit to varying degrees, depending on the circumstances. the first trap is the “ middle - income trap. ” 6 history shows that many economies have faced difficulties in advancing beyond the status of a middle - income economy once they have see http : / / data. worldbank. org / about / country - and - lending - groups. in my presentation, i loosely follow their definitions by using thresholds of 12, 000 u. s. dollars and 1, 000 u. s. dollars of per capita gdp. david n. weil, economic growth, third edition, pearson education limited, 2013. the darkness of north korea is noteworthy, as is often pointed out in the literature, including charles i. jones, “