WHEN SUDDENLY EVERYTHING BECOMES MORE EXPENSIVE...

YouTube premiere "From Kreisky's living room"

ROBERT MISIK IN CONVERSATION WITH OLIVER PICEK

WHEN SUDDENLY EVERYTHING BECOMES MORE EXPENSIVE...
The return of inflation

For many years it didn't play a role, but suddenly inflation is back. In the USA, in Europe, the inflation rate is climbing to record levels everywhere. Incomes are stagnating, but prices are rising. However, unlike in previous times, there is no wage-price spiral. The incomes of ordinary people are simply worth less. What are the reasons for inflation? Is it simply the higher energy prices, which are not least „political prices“? But it's not just heating, electricity and petrol that are becoming more expensive, rents have also risen brutally in recent years.
There are increasingly heated debates about how to counter inflation. Some are calling for the ECB to raise interest rates in order to dampen inflationary pressure? But what good would that do if inflation is mainly imported? US economists are already discussing price controls by governments for some key prices. Or is inflation just a flash in the pan that will quickly burn out again if there are no across-the-board wage increases?
What is inflation? What measures help and when? Is there even a threat of impoverishment for broad sections of the population? Talking about this in Kreisky's living room

Oliver Picek, Momentum Institute, Chief Economist
Robert Misik, Author and journalist

Oliver Picek studied economics in Vienna, Paris and New York. His academic specialisms are (European) macroeconomics, including current account imbalances in the eurozone, as well as the national limits of monetary, fiscal and employment policy within the European Monetary Union. Previously, he worked at the European Trade Union Institute in Brussels as a researcher in the department "Economic, Employment and Social Policy" and as an external expert of the Economy & Cohesion Group of the European Economic and Social Committee.