Hermann-Josef Lamberti (Deutsche Bank AG)

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all in Frankfurt today. First of all, I would like to thank Professor Michael Woodford for accepting the Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics 2007 that will be awarded to him at a ceremony later on. And I would like to thank him for joining this symposium on the “ Theory and Practice of Monetary Policy Today”I am truly pleased that the second Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics serves again as an occasion for a scientific symposium: An event that brings together first-rate experts of finance from academia and the corporate world.

Special thanks also go to Professor Volker Wieland for organizing today's symposium and for chairing the jury that has elected Professor Woodford for the Deutsche Bank Prize. And a special thank you also to the other members of the jury: Professor Otmar Issing from Frankfurt, Professor Lucrezia Reichlin from the ECB, Professor Lars Svensson from Princeton University, Professor Günter Franke from Konstanz University, Professor Jan Krahnen from the Center for Financial Studies (CFS), Professor Michael Haliassos and Professor Reinhard H. Schmidt from Frankfurt University, Patrick Lane from The Economist and Professor Norbert Walter from Deutsche Bank Group.