5  The central role of labor market conditions in monetary policy deliberations has also been apparent abroad. Last year the Bank of England announced its intention not to raise its policy rate at least until the unemployment rate reached 7 percent, subject to conditions on inflation and financial stability.
In each of these areas, our society has been prepared to limit options or to spend more of our scarce resources to reduce risk. I want to make clear that I am not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing. Wealthy societies like our own have considerable capability to address risks in a way that poorer societies cannot.