the late 1970s. i have said little here about the changes to microeconomic policies, which do so much to determine the economy ’ s supply - side responsiveness. that is because my field of interest and expertise is in the macro sphere. but these microeconomic changes were equally as important as the macro ones, maybe even more important. i mentioned the change in labour market policy, but this was accompanied by a host of other changes to factor markets ( like financial liberalisation ) and product markets ( tariff reform, competition policies and so on ). it is actually these policies that have done most to improve the living standards of australians. the contrast between the australian economy of 1977 – heavily regulated, suffering poor productivity growth, sheltering behind high barriers to foreign competition – and the much more open and productive one of today is striking. the teaching of economics the final comparison i offer is in the teaching of economics. of course i do not sit in lectures or tutorials, so i am unable to judge whether or not the face - to - face teaching has changed since the late 1970s. but one interesting exercise is to compare the text books used today with those in the past. 2 i understand that at the university of sydney a popular text is the i am indebted to clare noone for the suggestion of conducting this comparison. australian edition of ben bernanke ’ s principles of macroeconomics ( co - authored with robert frank, with the australian edition adapted by nilss olekans ). when i studied macroeconomics in 1977, the text in use was fred r. glahe ’ s macroeconomics, published in 1973. one interesting difference that is obvious immediately is the less formal layout. i think it is fair to describe glahe ’ s text as rather formidable and austere, and perhaps not a particularly inviting read. in contrast, the book by bernanke et al is much more welcoming, challenging students with thought - provoking questions and illustrations on how economic theory relates to tangible real world events. 3 perhaps the less formal presentation style says something about how society has changed over the past three decades, but i think it also reflects an economic force at work, and that is competition. there is a proliferation of new macroeconomic textbooks, many by highly regarded economists. this competition seems to have spurred authors to try to produce the most appealing text for students and lecturers in order to capture market share. to the extent that these texts may help to cultivate

of reference. i do not hesitate to say that this new ecb concept of real time detailed communication has been an important element of the new paradigm in central banking communication. second, there is the ecb ’ s monthly bulletin, which is always published one week after the press conference. it gives a more detailed explanation of the analysis behind the monetary policy decisions. it regularly reports on information collected by the ecb, such as the bank lending survey. importantly, it now also includes the ecb staff projections four times a year. an advance copy is published immediately after the press conference following the council meeting. this is another example where the ecb has gone very far in making its policy transparent and communicating its economic assessment in real time. the monthly bulletin also contains articles which provide insights into the principles governing our policy. third, the members of the governing council members give interviews and speeches to many different audiences. in them they explain the decisions taken and the ecb ’ s view on current topics within our sphere of competence. the decentralised nature of the eurosystem is an asset especially for communications with the general public. the governors address in their country their national public in their own language. they are very well placed to participate in economic debates taking place in their home country. finally, the ecb publishes a large array of statistics, adding essential information on the euro area available to financial markets and all other interested agents. there has been an ongoing process of extending the number of statistical series released by the ecb, which i expect to continue in the future. as a latest example, last week we have published for the first time a press release providing a geographical breakdown of balance of payments and international investment position statistics. our concept of transparency transparency serves our main objective of maintaining price stability. as we are a unique institution which has no precedent we have to consider very carefully the appropriate concept of transparency in our decision - making. we are convinced that as a collective body it is beneficial for the governing council to give its collegial assessment in the form of a comprehensive and detailed statement rather than only stating the decision and letting the interested parties wait for the detailed statement to be published later in the form of minutes. our method of real - time communication on behalf of the governing council also goes to demonstrate that we are collectively accountable to the public. each of us inside the 18 - member governing council has to take into account the superior interests of the whole euro area. my colleagues and i are convinced that our