Christine Lagarde: The economic and human challenges of a transforming era
Speech by Ms Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, at "Les Essentiels des Bernardins", Paris, 18 November 2024.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
It is both an honour and a privilege to address you at the esteemed Collège des Bernardins, a site rich in history and intellectual tradition.
As I stand in this restored medieval college, I am reminded of the profound role that monastic institutions have played in spreading Christian values throughout Europe.
In these environments, ideals of social responsibility flourished through communal living. The principle of "ora et labora" (pray and work) underlined the dignity of labour. And the study of theology and major disciplines of human knowledge contributed to Western thought.
These moral foundations contributed to the emergence of the Church's social doctrine in the 19th century and the creation of the welfare state.
The welfare state developed in response to rising inequality, hazardous working conditions and urban poverty triggered by the Industrial Revolution. Yet it was the wealth created by this very same Revolution and these new technologies that provided governments with the spending capacity to help the less fortunate.
As tax revenues rose, it became possible to provide people with more social insurance, healthcare and education. To echo the words of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck – creator of the world's first welfare state in the 1880s – welfare spending became an expression of "practical Christianity".