June 22, 2021 3:59 PM BST
With all the recent headlines about inflation being on the increase we have chosen it as our topic this month. Our draft agenda is:
Agenda
- What is good and bad about inflation?
- What are our price indexes, what do they measure and how relevant are they: RPI, CPI, CPIH, House Price Index?
- What are the current upward and downward drivers of inflation in the UK and globally?
- What about house price inflation, now at 10.2% (highest rate since Aug 2007)? What are the short-term and long-term consequences?
- Inflation has been under control ever since the B of E was given responsibility for managing it and setting interest rates instead of politicians. Is there any reason to change this? Should we emulate this in other areas?
- Can we avoid a post-pandemic problem of inflation? Is it a ‘this year’ problem or longer-term? Will we see double digit inflation again?
- Will Government see a bit more inflation as an aid to paying down the Covid debt?
- What will be the impact on society if we let it get out of control?