{"title":"Inflation and distribution during the post-COVID recovery: a Kaleckian approach","authors":"Mark Setterfield","doi":"10.1080/01603477.2023.2249431","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The early stages of recovery from the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic were accompanied by a marked increase in inflation in the US and elsewhere. Much has been made of this outcome, and the economic distress associated with it, in popular discussion of the economy. This paper provides a Kaleckian conflicting-claims analysis of inflation during the post-COVID recovery, that distinguishes between rising wages, pandemic-related supply shocks, and corporate price-setting behavior as sources of inflationary pressure. A key conclusion that arises from the co-determination of inflation and distributional outcomes in the Kaleckian framework is that distributional developments that have further disadvantaged working households, rather than inflation per se, are the chief source of recent economic distress – and should be the chief cause for concern among policy makers.","PeriodicalId":47197,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Post Keynesian Economics","volume":"57 1","pages":"587 - 611"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Post Keynesian Economics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01603477.2023.2249431","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
Abstract The early stages of recovery from the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic were accompanied by a marked increase in inflation in the US and elsewhere. Much has been made of this outcome, and the economic distress associated with it, in popular discussion of the economy. This paper provides a Kaleckian conflicting-claims analysis of inflation during the post-COVID recovery, that distinguishes between rising wages, pandemic-related supply shocks, and corporate price-setting behavior as sources of inflationary pressure. A key conclusion that arises from the co-determination of inflation and distributional outcomes in the Kaleckian framework is that distributional developments that have further disadvantaged working households, rather than inflation per se, are the chief source of recent economic distress – and should be the chief cause for concern among policy makers.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Post Keynesian Economics is a scholarly journal of innovative theoretical and empirical work that sheds fresh light on contemporary economic problems. It is committed to the principle that cumulative development of economic theory is only possible when the theory is continuously subjected to scrutiny in terms of its ability both to explain the real world and to provide a reliable guide to public policy.