1) Percent 10 9  10  Equities Fixed income  9  8  8  7  7  6  6  5  5  4  4  3  3  2  2  1  1 0  0 1999-2009  2010-2019  1) At 30 September 2019. Source: Norges Bank  The rise in equity prices has largely been driven by a fairly small number of companies. US corporate profit margins have increased markedly. The big earners have been the tech giants, which typically operate in markets where there are substantial profits to be gained as the dominant company. Their profits have drawn growing attention from competition authorities and higher taxation is under discussion internationally. Current valuations are based on expectations of sustained profit growth. This entails a downward potential. 6  Developments in the fund’s value over the past decade must also be seen in the context of the decline in global interest rates over time. The interest rate decline reflects the expansionary monetary stance prevailing since the financial crisis. Central bank policy rates were reduced to very low levels in many countries in order to stimulate economic activity. Several central banks have also engaged in substantial asset purchases, which has pushed down long-term interest rates further. NORGES BANK ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 13 FEBRUARY 2020  But low interest rates also reflect other driving forces such as population ageing, high saving in emerging economies, growing inequality and a general decline in productivity growth.
We want to continue to work together with all of you here on this agenda. We look forward to hearing your ideas, suggestions and questions through the panel discussion coming up shortly, and in our networking session with our market intelligence teams later on today. We want to use 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  that as a starting point to build stronger links with a wider, more diverse group of colleagues, and also deepen those over time, as they progress through their careers. There is a very important further issue in all of this, which is sadly highly topical, namely to ask what is the antidote to the problem of lobbying? The answer is not to speak to no-one. That is not likely to lead to good decision making. The answer is to be rigorous about speaking to a diverse range of people to get their views. We look forward to engaging with you in the future, working together to understand financial market developments from a diverse and varied range of perspectives to inform our policy committee decisions. Thank you I am grateful to Christine Boykiw, Sumita Ghosh, Sam Juthani, Ankita Mehta and Arjun Popat for their assistance in helping me prepare these remarks.​ 1 See Carney (2017) – link in References section. Gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and  education are types of ‘identity’ diversity. ‘Cognitive’ diversity is about our perspectives and how we think about and solve problems.