(February 16, 2023) - It’s safe to say that most people feel the effects of increases to the cost of living. Whether it be the rising price of gasoline or groceries, when the inflation rate is high, we are all impacted.
It’s also safe to say that Louis-Philippe Rochon, Full Professor of Economics at 黑料吃瓜不打烊 knows a great deal about the challenges that inflation poses for the economy and for members of society. He was recently invited by the Director of the United Nations (UN) Policy and Implementation committee to be the keynote speaker at an upcoming Development Policy UN event in New York. On February 22nd, he will address the topic, “Inflation and development: Some critical thoughts of current inflation challenges.”
“It’s an honour to have received this invitation and I’m very excited to be going to New York,” said Rochon. “I’ll be speaking about inflation, especially the way that central banks respond to inflation - the way they respond to inflation by raising interest rates. It’s no secret that this has consequences.”
An expert in his field, Rochon has been teaching at 黑料吃瓜不打烊 for over nineteen years. He has edited nearly forty books, is Editor-in-Chief of the journal and Founding Editor of the journal . He is also Director of the , an international virtual institute whose purpose through publications, webinars, workshops and conferences is to shed critical light on central banking and monetary policy. Amongst other influences, social biases, including gender and race biases and the carbon-biases of monetary policy, are considered.
“There is a class bias, gender bias, and a carbon bias embedded in changing interest rates,” Rochon explains. “And we have to ask ourselves, under what conditions is it appropriate to raise interest rates?... I argue that the fight against inflation is being fought on the backs of workers. Workers are the ones that pay the price.”
In addition to demystifying the concept of inflation, Rochon will discuss monetary policies as they impact the income distribution of workers. “The way monetary policy is claimed to work is that raises in interest rates slow down economic activity and in doing so, this should discourage people from buying, and lower prices. Inflation in this model is driven by excessive demand for goods and services. We have to slow that demand down, but the problem is that inflation as it exists today is not caused by that. In doing so, it causes unemployment and a possible recession. As such, it places the fight against inflation on the backs of workers. Monetary austerity is an attack on the middle class.”
Rochon surmises that other driving forces of inflation need to be examined, hinting towards influences such as bottlenecks (goods not being able to be sent to their destination, an increased reality of the COVID-19 pandemic), the war in Ukraine (which has impacted rising costs of goods such as oil, wheat and flour), and the increased efforts of companies to raise their profits. Without a doubt, inflation is a complex and hot topic of discussion.
“Equally exciting is that in April, I have been invited to speak at the UN’s conference which attracts heads of states and Nobel Laureates. This is an even bigger honour,” Rochon enthused. “I have been very fortunate and appreciate these invitations.”
Though Rochon is eager for his addresses to be well received, he also hopes that by participating in these UN events, he may be able to develop a research group on conflict inflation that he described “would be good for everyone involved.” Rochon is no stranger to collaborative efforts; he has worked with academics from across the globe as a visiting Professor in countries including France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, and Australia. He has also lectured in Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Hungary, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, China, South Africa, Colombia, Denmark, Peru, Spain, the United States, and England.
Some of Rochon’s accolades include grants from the , the , and the .