The experience of recent years suggests that each of these exceptions to the assumptions on which the theory of international trade is based is plausible. This would perhaps explain why the past decade was characterised, at least until the outbreak of the crisis, by a sustained rate of growth among emerging economies but a decreasing rate for advanced economies. It also explains the increase in income dispersion among the latter. If economic policies ignore such developments and continue to aim for unchanged income and consumption dynamics, they will create internal and external imbalances in the economy which will build up over time. Such imbalances may also exist for a prolonged period of time, owing to the financial system and the ability to issue debt securities in the national currency. But, by definition, what is not sustainable will sooner or later generate instability, with negative repercussions for the whole economy. The way out of this crisis depends on the ability, in advanced economies, to align the expectations and behaviour of agents with the new global context. This does not mean passively accepting the consequences, but avoiding side-stepping them through policies which put off the problem until later, in an attempt to win time. Which means, in other words, shifting the emphasis from macroeconomic to structural policies. These problems will be tackled not just by individual countries but also at the international level.
We also see wages continuing to increase in the future. Now, you really asked me specifically the question of whether corporations and labour – and I'm using that term in a generic, comprehensive way – will find the terms under which they don't contribute to fuelling even more inflation that would call on us to take harder monetary policy measures. This is the assumption that we make. I think economically it is justifiable, it is rational, but of course humans are humans. It's going to be for the parties around the table to actually determine what they do going forward in terms of allocating profits and organising these social relationships. What they can be certain of in their discussion is that the European Central Bank will take all  8/10  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  necessary measures to return inflation to 2%. That, they can count on, and we are confident that we will get there so I hope it helps in their deliberation going forward. The persistency of inflation, as I said, has a lot to do with this unit labour cost that I have mentioned earlier on. This is really the strong – I don't want to use sticky component, because it is going to be persistent, and we know it. Numbers will continue to be high in the months to come, by the way, because we believe that services are going to continue to grow strongly. Labour-intensive services will. Contact-intensive services will continue to grow strongly.