Podcast | Inflation and purchasing power | Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur

For this second podcast of Economics for everybody, Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur enlightens us on the historical dimension of inflation: its origins, its relationship to the economy and its impact on the current situation.

Texts cited:

 Jean Bodin, 1568, “Response au Paradoxe de Monsieur de Malestroit, touchant l’enchérissement de toutes choses, et le moyen d’y remédier”.

 Maria Waldinger, 2021, “Let them eat cake : drought in 1788 and political outcomes in the French Revolution”

Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur is Professor at Paris School of Economics and Director of Studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).
His research focuses on methods and theories of economics to renew the understanding of financial and monetary history, primarily French.

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After years of neglect of inflation seen as defeated in rich countries thanks to the independence of central banks, the current resurgence leads to a resumption of discussions, especially around the importance of inflation expectations (in the existing paradigm) or their importance (according to the protesters), for example:

 Ricardo Reis, «Losing the inflation anchor», Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-062.

The question of whether we are experiencing a change in monetary regime is still poorly addressed, but history is almost by necessity the field on which to assess the possibility of such changes in regimes. See for example the work of Thomas Sargent, as his article with:

 Thomas J. Sargent et Francois R Velde, 1995, “Macroeconomic Features of the French Revolution”, Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 474-518.

 Éric Monnet, 2015, “La politique de la Banque de France au sortir des Trente Glorieuses : un tournant monétariste ?”, Revue d’histoire moderne & contemporaine, /1 (n° 62-1), p. 147-174.
or
 Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, 2021, “La Rupture ? La Grande Guerre, l’Europe et le XXe siècle”, IGPDE.

For exploratory treatment of the current situation, see:
 Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, 2022, “Les taux d’intérêt, mesure du rapport social au futur”, in C. Courtet & al. (eds) La mémoire du futur, CNRS éd.

* This infographic is part of the new Economics for everybody formula.