perspective of someone from a small, rural, agricultural community, who has worked as a community banker and as a state regulator. those aren ’ t typical experiences for a fed policymaker. this diversity is a strength, as congress recognized by creating a role on the federal reserve board designated for someone with community banking experience. i am the first to serve in this capacity, and i strongly believe that our economic and financial system is strengthened when we consider the implications of our regulatory decisions for bankers on main street as well as on wall street. i approach our monetary policy deliberations in a similar way. our actions in response to the recent pandemic have clearly benefited from this perspective, as we understand how the varying state and local approaches have affected economic conditions across the nation. in closing, it is appropriate that during this election season we honor the women who secured 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches that right, first in kansas, and then through their campaign to ratify the 19th amendment. the greatest tribute to those women, and the best way to honor their legacy, is to vote. another way is through public service, and i would strongly encourage all — but in particular women — to consider serving in government at the local, state, or federal level. it is the most challenging, but by far the most rewarding work that i have done, and i hope you will consider serving as well. thank you again for this honor. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

to someone else if they sold their holdings. private persons were not allowed to take unlimited currency out of the country. amounts above the regulated limit – which was low – required permission from the riksbank. it was necessary to show evidence that the money would be used for personal aims and not for investment or other financial purposes. private persons were not allowed to hold accounts abroad. of course, considerable resources were required to administer all of these regulations. my description here shows clearly how thoroughly regulated the swedish financial system was. furthermore, the regulations applied over a long time. they were for a good purpose. the aim was to create stable markets for credit and foreign currency, secure and sound banks and also to achieve redistribution of wealth effects through prioritising economic policy measures. however, the result was the removal of necessary incentives for the banks to develop their operations in a professional manner and it also reduced the opportunities to compete, which prevented new banks from entering the market. thus, short - term stability was attained at the cost of the build - up of long - term tensions, which would gradually result in a crisis. the emergence of a market economy … the idea behind the regulations was good, but they led to the central government having too much control over the banks ’ operations. this put the banks ’ functions out of operation. the banks ’ most important task is to borrow money from the general public and then lend it to companies who wish to invest. they must therefore be able to assess the creditworthiness of their borrowers. however, the regulations that had prevailed for almost forty years meant that the banks had not needed to develop thorough credit assessment competence. the central government had controlled their risk - taking. the limits to lending growth also meant that they could choose to only provide credit to the customers with the highest credit ratings. loan losses were thus small. in addition, there was little competition and little incentive to develop new services. the swedish banks had too many employees and lived in an environment that must with hindsight be regarded as sheltered. after enduring the crisis, the number of employees had been reduced by one third, but at the same time turnover had increased. however, during the 1980s the regulation structure was slowly eroded. the banks ’ balance sheets were full of government bonds that they had been forced to buy at non - market prices, and the credit flows began to move increasingly towards the unregulated sector outside of the banks. developments in the international financial markets made the currency regulation increasingly difficult –