Given this, the Riksbank has initiated a research project to obtain more information on how investment and use of IT as well as reorganisation affects productivity growth in Sweden. The project is in two parts. The first sub-project is a micro study which examines whether companies that have reorganised and invested in IT will have higher productivity growth. The second part of the project is based on an own survey study in collaboration with Statistics Sweden, which covers the years 1997-2005. The first, preliminary results of this study were presented at a conference organised by the Riksbank at the end of last year on the theme of productivity. 8 They indicate that the companies that made organisational changes at the same time as investing more in IT than the average company experienced a substantial increase in productivity growth. 9 The study also shows that it was not possible to find any significant effects on productivity growth from IT investments in the companies that had not reorganised. It is therefore important to take into account investments in "organisational capital” when analysing productivity growth. Other investments in knowledge capital such as staff training and R&D should also be important to productivity. This is also confirmed by studies using US data. 10 This type of measure is not reported as an investment in the official statistics. This is despite the fact that they can be regarded as intangible investments. Instead they are calculated as a cost to companies.
Bandid Nijathaworn: Challenges for central banks in the new globalisation Remarks by Mr Bandid Nijathaworn, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the Bank of Thailand International Symposium 2010 “Challenges to Central Banks in the Era of the New Globalisation”, Bangkok, 15 October 2010. *  *  *  I think it is clear from the discussion we had that the post-crisis global economy will not be the same as the one we remember three or four years ago. The global financial crisis was serious, causing much dislocation to the global economy, the banking sector and financial markets, and the process of regaining full normality will take time. Therefore, at least for the next few years, the post-crisis global environment will be characterized by a world of two halves: the advanced economies and emerging markets, each exhibiting different growth prospects, different economic challenges, and different policy stance. And it is this divergence in policies and performance that will drive uncertainty and volatility in global financial markets, accompanied by shifts in risk appetite, global asset allocation, and relative prices. This, in essence, is the context in which new challenges for central banks are being shaped. What implications will this post-crisis environment have on central banks’ roles and responsibilities in maintaining economic stability? To me, three implications are clear. The first is the need for central banks to expand their mandates to formally recognize both price and financial stability as their core policy objectives.