The Causes and Potential Cures for Inflation

Inflation is here. After a 40-year hiatus, we're now in the midst of the phenomena characterized by rising prices and declining purchasing power. Many had warned about it, but it became inevitable in the wake of the pandemic with the passage of the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan. Did policymakers and economists anticipate the danger of inflation from massive fiscal stimulus, only to have their advice ignored? Or were they complacent? To answer these questions and more, Harvard economist and Pioneer Institute board member Ed Glaeser recently interviewed Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and former President of Harvard University, for a special episode of Hubwonk.

Guest:

Lawrence H. Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus of Harvard University. During the past two decades, he has served in a series of senior policy positions in Washington, D.C., including the 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton and Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama. Mr. Summers received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1982.

Guest Host:

Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics and the Chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He has served as Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He has published dozens of papers on cities economic growth, law, and economics. In particular, his work has focused on the determinants of city growth and the role of cities as centers of idea transmission. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1992.