It soon grew into a regional, and in time global, network offering financial, housing, training and social support, to both men and women, cushioning the recessionary hit to societies. And that remains its role today. The story, then, is of a social infrastructure emerging to support workers and societies buffeted by technological change. These institutions aimed either to reduce the length or to limit the costs of adjustment by displaced workers. By enhancing skills and mitigating hardships, the incidence and cost of recessionary adjustment was reduced, for individuals and societies. And this, ultimately, was the difference between the living standards escalator of the Golden Era and the travellator of its Malthusian predecessor. Joseph Schumpeter spoke powerfully about the forces of “creative destruction”. 42  The lesson of history  seems to be that we need both to “cultivate the creative” and to “disarm the destructive” if innovation is to translate into rising levels of social, human and infrastructural capital and, then, higher living standards. It is only by establishing strong institutional roots that technological fruit can subsequently be harvested. Future Growth and Future Institutions  From the past and present to the future. What lies in store for future economic growth? It is difficult to know with any confidence. But if history is any guide, the story of growth will hinge on the interplay between the two “i”s – the disruptive forces of innovation on the one hand, the stabilising role of institutions on the other.
With reference to the question above, I can tell you that there have been several reasons to begin with these three countries, but the main reason for which we compare today the present situation in Sweden, Turkey and Romania is due to the diligent and assiduous activity of the Ambassadors of these two countries in Bucharest. Then, I would like to salute their presence here today: His Excellency Mr. Anders Bengtcén, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden, and His Excellency Mr. Ömür Şölendil, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey and to particularly extend my gratitude to them and to all the persons involved in the materialization of this conference. I also thank Mr. Klas Eklund, Senior Economist at the Swedish Bank SEB and Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Lund University and Mr. Çağri Memişoğlu, Deputy General Manager at Garanti Bank Romania. There are, of course, historical links between the three countries. I do take this opportunity to highlight a few of them. With the Republic of Turkey one could go back to the proclamation of the new state as a republic, last century, and even more, centuries of ties between the Romanian Principalities and the Ottoman Empire. I also like to notice the connection between our two central banks. In the National Bank of Romania’s archives there are letters, exchanged between Governor Mitiță Constantinescu and Governor Salâhattin Çam, regarding the organization of a conference for the governors of the central banks in the Balkanic Coalition, in November 1937, in Ankara.