The ECB Podcast – Are wages and greedflation really pushing up prices?
Channel: European Central Bank
Date: 2023-06-24

What is the risk of a wage-price spiral? How long will we go on raising interest rates?  And are companies’ high profits fuelling inflation?
Our host Katie Ranger discusses these questions with our Chief Economist Philip R. Lane on The ECB Podcast.

The views expressed are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the European Central Bank.

Published on 23 June 2023 and recorded on 20 June 2023.

In this episode:

1:20 – The ECB’s latest monetary policy decisions
Why are we raising interest rates again and when will we reach the right rate to bring inflation down to our 2% target?

06:56 – Underlying versus headline inflation: what’s the difference?
What do we understand by core, headline and underlying inflation, what role do energy prices play, and which way is inflation going?

15:02 – The risk of a wage-price spiral 
What is the risk of a wage-price spiral, why can it be dangerous and how can we avoid it?

19:44 – The ‘’greedflation’’ phenomenon
Are companies’ widening profit margins driving up inflation – and if so, how will this situation rebalance? 

23:47 – Our guest’s hot tip
Our guest, Philip R. Lane, recommends that our listeners take a look at the 2023 Young Economist Prize finalists’ papers – and tune in to the ECB Forum on Central Banking to hear the winner being announced.

Further reading:

The ECB Forum on Central Banking 2023 – Programme
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/conferences/html/20230626_ecb_forum_on_central_banking.en.html 

Meet the finalists of the 2023 Young Economist Prize
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/conferences/ecbforum/YE_competition/html/index.en.html

Our monetary policy statement at a glance – June 2023
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pressconf/visual-mps/2023/html/mopo_statement_explained_june.en.html

The ECB Podcast: What high inflation means and how we are tackling it – December 2022
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/tvservices/podcast/html/ecb.pod221220_episode49.en.html 

The ECB Podcast: What interest rate hikes mean for you, the economy and inflation – July 2022
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/tvservices/podcast/html/ecb.pod220723_episode38.en.html

European Central Bank
www.ecb.europa.eu