Were we to see evidence of second round effects in wage and cost developments, a tighter policy than otherwise might be required. Were energy prices to fall steadily in line with futures rather than stabilise as we assume, then – other things equal – more policy accommodation could be maintained. Exploring how monetary policy decisions and their communication should be managed in the face of such uncertainties is the topic to which I will now turn in the body of my talk. Monetary policy and uncertainty As I hope to have illustrated, the MPC’s assessment and treatment of uncertainty has played an important role in coming to last week’s monetary policy decision. Of course, the current conjuncture has its own specificities – many of which are uncomfortable for the MPC, as I have discussed. 4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  4  But dealing with uncertainty is part of the job. If we lived in a world of perfect certainty, then monetary policy would be a much simpler – perhaps even a trivial – task. Sitting on the MPC at present, that is not how it feels. So I hope you will indulge me with scope to discuss more generally how monetary policymakers might deal with risk and uncertainty, before concluding with some more specific remarks about where the MPC stands today. The economic literature on monetary policy and uncertainty is voluminous and surprisingly inconclusive.
Allow me to reiterate and point out that over the years, we delightfully have noticed that the quality in the research work of participants has been on rise, turning the performed analyses and researches increasingly more professional. As in previous years, Albanian students from domestic or foreign universities have applied and presented their best research work. We are happy to notice that participation and interest from students and universities has been significantly edging up, showing appreciation, reliability and reputation of this competition. This year, we received 25 studies, whose common characteristic is the addressing of the reality in the last couple of years. They mainly scrutinise the economic, financial and social effects of the pandemic and the resistance of market and financial institutions to this shock. Thesis on the forward guidance of financial market, focusing on the digital currency effects; exploitation of large detailed databases for evaluating the behaviour of financial market segments which, which have been out of the research attention, are important to the country development; in addition to the study of other important issues to Albania, like fiscal policy, etc. The addressed themes and their findings are based on the application of contemporary research methodologies and make use of granular statistical information, which is both thoughtful and structured one. Above all, this information is employed rigorously pursuant to the academic standards and requirements to research and argue through theoretical and empirical hypothesis on the economic and financial phenomena and events.