James Galbraith: INFLATION, SANCTIONS & INDUSTRIAL POLICY

Robert Misik in conversation with James
Galbraith


INFLATION, SANCTIONS AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY
Thoughts on the Disorder in Economic Thought


 


James K. Galbraith, one of the leading left-wing American
economists, examines the economic policy debates in the USA and
Europe: inflation has led to real wage losses in Europe, but also
to rising costs for companies, particularly in industry. However,
the USA has been quicker to get inflation under control and, with
the Biden administration’s “Inflation Reduction Act”, has put
together a package of investments in infrastructure as well as
subsidies for ecological transformation. But is this the new form
of industrial policy that is needed? Galbraith is skeptical.


In Europe, on the other hand, the spectre of
“de-industrialization” is already being raised, not least due to
the rise in energy prices and production costs in general. How
can the European economy respond to this? The programs to date
are little more than a drop in the ocean. What needs to be done
to achieve a prosperous economy that lifts all boats, not just
the luxury yachts? Justice, innovation and ecological
transformation – do they go together?


 


James Galbraith is an American economist. He is
currently a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public
Affairs and at the Department of Government, University of Texas
at Austin. He is also a Senior Scholar with the Levy Economics
Institute of Bard College and part of the executive committee of
the World Economics Association, created in 2011.





Robert Misik, Author and Journalist