profound implications for the free world's trading system and the long-term growth potential of the American economy.

a distinguished appointment. Ben comes with superb academic credentials and important insights into the ways our economy functions.

Despite some of the risks that I have highlighted, the U.S. economy seems to be on a reasonably firm footing, and underlying inflation remains contained,

The type of economy that we are dealing with at this particular stage is, I suspect, one that none of us has seen before, and indeed it may be unprecedented in our history, ... Our basic purpose is to keep that process going.

The growing stability of the world economy over the past decade may have encouraged investors to accept increasingly lower levels of compensation for risk.

The economic fundamentals remain firm, and the U.S. economy appears to retain important forward momentum,

The economy suffered significant shocks in late summer and early autumn,

The addition of the Chinese economy to the global marketplace will result in a more efficient worldwide allocation of resources and will raise standards of living in China and its trading partners,

in modest quantities does enhance the rate of growth of the economy and does create higher standards of living, but in excess, creates very serious problems.