Indeed, seen through this lens, financial crises can be viewed as a kind of “safety valve of last resort”, a catalyst for needed structural adjustments. It would be better, of course, if market participants and policy makers rather acted to ensure that restructuring occurred in a speedy and orderly way without activating such extreme mechanisms. III.
Monetary policy debates over the past years are closely linked to your name. Only two presidents of the Bank were in office longer than you – albeit only slightly longer. This occasion gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past decade, but also to look ahead at the challenges that lie before us.