Urban Bäckström: Financial cycles Speech by Mr Urban Bäckström, Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, at the Philadelphia Fed Policy Forum on Crises, Contagion and Coordination: Issues for Policymakers in the Global Economy, Philadelphia, 22 November 2002. *  *  *  First I want to express my thanks to the organizers for inviting me to this very interesting conference. Let me especially thank Tony Santomero for everything he has done in his previous capacity in inspiring and assisting us at the Riksbank over the years as an academic adviser. I wish you, Tony, every success as president for the Philadelphia Fed and as an important policy maker here in the U.S. I think one can say that central bankers around the world have never before had such a central and well respected position as they have had during the past decade. Their task seemed to be well defined and the job to deliver price stability has worked rather well. Much of the mystique that typically surrounded central banks has gradually disappeared. Openness and transparency have become the key words of the day. Moreover, research concerning monetary policy has made good progress during the past decade. The world of central banking has indeed undergone positive changes. However, it would be most dangerous for us, central bankers, to just sit down and relax in the belief that all the important problems in the field of monetary policy have been resolved and need no further consideration.
Whether improved prudential regulations, supervisory practices and risk management techniques will suffice to avoid financial cycles in the future remains to be seen. Our experience so far does, however, leave some doubts about this. This brings us to a possible third line of defense that could at least in principle be used to prevent large financial cycles. I am of course thinking about monetary policy The argument is that since we live in a fiat money system, there is no exogenous constraint on the supply of credit except through monetary authorities. If those reactions are geared exclusively to controlling inflation, then the monetary anchor may not counter a build-up of credit that does not immediately lead to inflation in the price of current output. Hence, there is little to prevent the emergence of cycles in the prices of real and financial assets that are not included in the measure of inflation. In addition, experience has taught us that price stability is not, by itself, sufficient to ensure financial stability. So why don’t central banks simply change the way they conduct monetary policy and also try to prevent financial cycles? Well, the conventional view is that they should not. There are some very powerful arguments against a central bank trying to respond to credit expansion and “misalignments” in asset prices that do not lead to inflation in goods and services. First, how do we know that a bubble is a bubble and not a reflection of fundamental values?