Consumer prices in the UK rose by 5.4% (year-on-year) in December 2021, the highest annual rate of inflation since the UK adopted an inflation target in 1992. The January CfM survey asked a panel of experts on the UK economy to evaluate the causes and prospects of the current inflation surge. The panel was nearly unanimous in thinking it was caused by supply side factors that
Markus K Brunnermeier, Jean-Pierre Landau
Concerns about climate change have been central to the economic policy discussion in recent decades, with increasing urgency. More recently, debates have emerged on central banks’ role in mitigating climate change, or on increasing their awareness of their environmental impact (Brunnermeier and Landau 2020). The February 2021 CfM-CEPR survey asked members of its European panel of experts about measures the ECB could take to address the environmental impact of its bond-purchasing policies, in light of some suggestions that the bonds the central bank purchases overweigh industries that have negative environmental impact. The panel was also asked whether it would consider changing the ECB’s mandate to contain environmental targets.
Charles Goodhart, Manoj Pradhan
Over the past year, concerns about inflation have reappeared. The January 2021 Centre for Macroeconomics (CfM) survey asked members of its UK-based panel whether inflationary or deflationary pressures would dominate in the upcoming decade and about the main driving forces of inflation.
Should we worry about post-Covid inflation?
Since the Global Crisis, inflation expectations have been subdued in most advanced economies. Central banks have made herculean efforts to hit their inflation targets from below. The consensus prior to Covid-19 was certainly that high rates of inflation would not be a major threat to advanced economies in the foreseeable future.