Communications and information technology are, moreover, infinitely more advanced today so that the decentralized management of the ESCB’s operative activities will be much easier to organize than it was in the Federal Reserve System at the beginning of this century.
The fact that so many central banks are represented here today bears witness to our commitment to continue producing high-quality research, share its results and keep interactions and intellectual spillovers alive. It is extremely unfortunate that this edition of the workshop will only allow for “virtual” interaction, without the social networking and informal conversations that animate in-person meetings.