Employment rate Percentage of population aged 16–64 85  85  80  80  75  75  Employment rate  70  70  Mean, 2000-2008  65  65  60  60 80  82  84  86  88  90  92  94  96  98  00  02  04  06  08  10  12  Source: Statistics Sweden  14  BIS central bankers’ speeches  13. RU indicator and GDP gap Standard deviation and percentage 6  6  GDP gap (PF) RU indicator  4  4  2  2  0  0  -2  -2  -4  -4  -6  -6  -8  -8 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14  Note. The RU indicator has been normalised so that the mean value is 0 and the standard deviation is 1. The reference period is 1996–2008. GDP gap according to production function (PF) approach. Sources: Statistics Sweden and the Riksbank  14. Actual and long-term unemployment Per cent of labour force aged 16–64 12  12  10  10  8  8  6  6  4  4  Unemployment Unemployment, forecast  2  2  Mean, 2000-2008 Long-term unemployment  0  0 80  85  90  95  00  05  10  15  20  Note.
Øystein Olsen: Promoting high-quality research in financial economics Closing remarks by Mr Øystein Olsen, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at the Norwegian Finance Initiative (NFI) conference 2012, Oslo, 20 June 2012. *  *  *  In 2011 Norges Bank established the Norwegian Finance Initiative – NFI. Through the NFI we aim to promote excellence. Excellence in research, in curiosity and in criticism. One objective of NFI is to contribute to a qualified debate in Norway on the fund, its strategy and its management. Top-quality research at academic institutions in Norway is a necessary condition for this. The fundamental idea of the NFI is to provide incentive programs that will lead to long-run structural improvements in research and teaching in financial economics. Over the past year, we have introduced seven programs, directed at both students and faculty of financial economics at academic institutions in Norway. One important program involves co-sponsoring positions and hiring of outstanding academics. In this way the Norwegian Finance Initiative can help academic institutions in Norway build the infrastructure needed to sustain a lively research culture. Another NFI program is the publication bonus. The publication bonus has been established by the Norwegian Finance Initiative to provide incentives for existing faculty to go the extra mile to produce high-quality, high-impact research. The program also signals to young scholars the value their institutions place on this level of achievement.