jerome h powell : opening remarks opening remarks by mr jerome h powell, chair of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the gender and the economy conference, a symposium hosted by the division of consumer and community affairs, board of governors of the federal reserve system, washington, d. c., ( via webcast ), 8 november 2021. * * * good morning. i am pleased to welcome everyone to today ’ s conference on gender and the economy. thank you for being here, for participating, and for lending your expertise on this important topic. we have gathered an impressive lineup of speakers and panelists, who will address a range of timely and important issues. to open the conference, i will give a brief tour of the important research on display here, then discuss how the pandemic has affected the economy along gender lines. research the speakers and panelists will be exploring a wide range of topics, from a historical review of gender issues and the economy to how someone ’ s education options — and the financing of those choices — affect that person ’ s early career and financial stability. speakers and panelists will also be looking at the influence of family and caregiving on career advancement and will discuss timely topics of wealth and retirement. the pandemic and gender the pandemic widened deep - rooted inequities in our economy. along racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines, those least able to bear it, unfortunately, were those who were most affected. women make up the majority of frontline workers, who have been under substantial strain — and subject to personal risks — during the pandemic. additionally, women took on the majority of caring responsibilities, for older relatives and children alike. as schools closed and childcare services shuttered during the worst of the pandemic, that added responsibility and stress made working more difficult for some and took many away from their jobs. these burdens are real and have been an additional challenge during an already challenging time. in a reversal of previous recessions, women suffered more from job losses in the covid - 19 recession than men. in april 2020, the unemployment rate for women was 16. 1 percent, compared with 13. 6 percent for men. the gap persisted until september of that year, and while it has since reversed, it does not account for the many women who left the workforce entirely. 1 increased childcare responsibilities during the pandemic also affected many parents ’ working lives. mothers of small children

ben s bernanke : some thoughts on monetary policy in japan speech by mr ben s bernanke, member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, before the japan society of monetary economics, tokyo, 31 may 2003. the references for the speech can be found on the board of governors of the federal reserve systema€™s website. * * * i am delighted to address this meeting of the japan society of monetary economics. i would particularly like to thank professor shimizu both for inviting me and for helping to arrange a series of meetings with officials at the bank of japan, the ministry of finance, and the financial services agency. those meetings have given me a first - hand look at the difficult challenges that the current economic situation poses for japan's leaders and for the japanese people. the economic situation here is indeed enormously complex. it involves not only structural, monetary, and fiscal problems but also underlying political and social forces, which have at times limited the flexibility of policy. the sometimes frustratingly slow pace of change in japan is all the more reason, however, for this nation's economists to speak out and present clear, persuasive arguments that will help guide the policy debate and urge leaders to effective action. at stake is not only the economic health of your country but also, to a significant degree, the prosperity of the rest of the world. from my side of the ocean, it seems that many people are looking to the united states to take the responsibility for leading the world into economic recovery. clearly, however, faster growth in japan and other major industrial countries would support a stronger, more balanced, and more durable recovery than one driven by u. s. growth alone. although changes in macroeconomic policy in japan during the past decade have generally been slow and deliberate, there has also been some willingness to experiment, not least by the bank of japan ( boj ). for this reason, the recent appointment of a new leadership team at the boj has stimulated considerable interest and expectation around the world. although governor fukui and his colleagues have so far not made radical breaks with previous boj policies, there is reason to hope that they will be open to fresh ideas and approaches. in that spirit, my remarks today will be focused on opportunities for monetary policy innovation in japan, including specifically the possibility of more - active monetary - fiscal cooperation to end deflation. in focusing primarily on macroeconomic policies and the deflation problem, however