In the following, I will intentionally not focus on further ramifications for prices, expectations, monetary or fiscal policy, as the conference features two excellent academic sessions and one policy session related to this topic tomorrow. Instead, and to provide a little teaser for the discussion on the high-level policy panel this afternoon, I will concentrate on financial stability policies and financial regulation.
One useful way of approaching this problem is to compare the euro area with the United States. The US appears to be a fairly natural benchmark. Its economy is similar in several ways to that of the euro area, not least in the size of its economy and population.