christian noyer : current policy debate challenges – a euro area perspective welcome address by mr christian noyer, governor of the bank of france and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the 4th bank of francedeutsche bundesbank macroeconomics and finance conference, paris, 24 may 2013. * * * ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, it is a great pleasure for me to speak in front of such a distinguished audience. as you might know, this is the fourth time that the banque de france and the deutsche bundesbank have jointly organised a conference of this type. it is held every other year, alternately in germany and in france. the fact that these two institutions sponsor an event of this nature sends a clear signal to the community of researchers : it illustrates the importance of research for the conduct of monetary policy. this is especially relevant at the current juncture as our understanding of the interactions between financial markets and the real economy remains incomplete. the work of outstanding quality presented during this conference could help influence the design and the conduct of monetary policy. the programme of this conference is very rich. it covers topical subjects that are of the utmost importance from the point of view of current policy debate. let me take as an example the topic covered this morning : unconventional monetary policy, which have been my bread and butter as a member of the ecb governing council for the already six years. after the lehman collapse, central banks implemented far - reaching unconventional monetary policy measures, first by setting up liquidity facilities and then, for some of them, by undertaking large - scale asset purchase programmes. measuring the propagation of these policies on our economy is a challenge. unconventional policies are typically announced in order to respond to specific economic and financial conditions. they are endogenous. and disentangling their effects from those induced by other economic and financial factors can be very difficult. empirical studies of the effects non - conventional policies, including pioneering studies by anne vissing - jorgensen, have proceeded through so called “ event studies ”. this approach consists of measuring the response of asset prices the day when a given measure is announced. the “ identification ” problem is solved in the sense that reactions by interest rates and asset prices on the day when a central bank announced a new non - conventional measure are indeed very likely to the caused by the announcement. this literature has for instance showed that the effects of the so called large scale asset purchase programs of the federal reserve. “ q

proper transmission of our monetary stance throughout the euro area. huge intellectual efforts are constantly needed to improve and adapt our policies to changing environments. the current crisis is a stark reminder of this, not just for policy makers but also for economists and academics. this is the very reason why the bundesbank president, jens weidmann and i have high expectations for this two - day conference. ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, thank you for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches