I was just reading a paper written by three German economists on extreme politics, in a very good economic journal, about the political consequences of big recessions in 20 countries from 1870 to the present day.2 And indeed they show a correlation between extreme severe downturns and the political polarisation. Only in the case of financial crises during the ensuing five years, far-right parties increased on average their voting share by 30%. Far-left parties never benefited much from financial crises. And so I’m not saying that the increase in populism, liberal democracy is some authoritarian drive, it’s only the result of the economic crisis; there are other factors, but it’s certainly a big one. Let’s talk more about the crisis. Can you remember the first moment when you became concerned? I became concerned at the beginning of 2010, when, back in February, the budget deficits of several countries for 2009 were known and were higher than anyone expected. Particularly, of course in Greece, which recorded a deficit of 15% instead of an expected 5.6%, but also other countries. We started to feel the pressure in the bond market after that, so those were the first signs of something really becoming serious. Then it intensified. We had a meeting of the Governing Council in Lisbon on 5 May, just a few weeks before I came here to the ECB. That was the day of the flash crash in Wall Street, with 4/8  BIS central bankers' speeches  huge repercussions in bond markets everywhere.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Advancing women’s leadership in public life Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Women in Leadership Forum “Power sharing in the public sector”, Kuala Lumpur, 22 February 2011. *  *  *  Introduction In this twenty-first century, it is human capital rather than physical capital that will define performance and progress. Women represent half of the world population and therefore half the potential resource that can drive such performance. This is reinforced by the more recent trend that increasingly, the majority of those with college education are women. Increasingly therefore, this group represents a more significant resource potential that can rise to leadership positions. In emerging economies, where such high powered talent is scarce, gender has not been of an issue. Women have risen to leadership positions based on their merits and capabilities. Women in Malaysia have certainly made significant strides in their participation in all segments of the Malaysian economy and have demonstrated their ability to lead and to succeed in both the public and private sectors. It is my honour to be here today to speak at this Women in Leadership Forum on the topic on “Advancing Women’s Leadership in Public Life: Power Sharing in the Public Sector”. In Asia, in particular, women have risen to key positions and have been given the opportunity to contribute to the nation’s progress and development.