Between 2022 and 2023, inflation jumped over 8% in the United States and Europe, and then subsided in the course of 2023. This relatively short episode was set in motion by the production distortions that emerged at the end of the covid-19 pandemic and by major rises in energy prices, accelerated by the start of the Ukraine war: Price rises spread throughout the economy on the basis of market power and a search for profits. Price levels are now stabilizing at a higher level, with consequences on income distribution, the purchasing power of wages, and financial values.
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More importantly, economic policies have experienced a major turn. In order to address inflation, the monetary authorities in the United States and Europe have turned to a restrictive policy, with major rises in interest rates; as inflation falls, there is uncertainty on future developments. Such policy change is affecting the macroeconomic outlook, the trajectories of structural change, the distribution of income and the dynamics of finance.
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Guest editors:
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Mario Pianta, James Galbraith
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Special issue information:
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This special issue of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics will explore these issues with articles addressing conceptual, empirical and policy issues, with a national or comparative focus.
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Themes of interest include:
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- Theory and conceptual approaches that are relevant to understand current inflation and policy actions;
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- Analyses of the causes, diffusion and consequences of inflation, with special attention to European, emerging and developing economies;
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- Investigations on the dynamics of real wages, trade union strategies and changes in industrial relations;
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- Income distribution patterns, inequality and poverty;
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- Analysis of the emergence of restrictive monetary policies, and their economic consequences.
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- The evolution of fiscal, redistributive, industrial and environmental policies;
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- Macroeconomic models and simulations for understanding the impact of inflation and restrictive monetary policies.
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