Theory and practice should always inform each other.
My engagement with the public has always been problem-driven. I have taken the insights from my research and found ways of using them to make sense of contemporary challenges, ranging from the politics of inflation and the current cost of living crisis, to the ongoing political and economic crisis produced by the coronavirus pandemic, and the prospects for another global economic crisis.
Inflation: past and present
In recent years, my research has been focusing on understanding and reinterpreting the political and economic dynamics of the last “Great Inflation” of the late 1970s and 1980s, and drawing lessons for today.
Yet I certainly didn’t expect to find that research so timely, as we face a cost of living crisis of the likes that we haven’t seen for decades.
I have been engaging with the media on the subject of inflation in recent months, discussing the source of the inflation that we face today, the impact on Canadians, and potential policy responses. Given my recent work on the role of central banks and of monetary policy, I have been particularly interested in discussing just what central banks can—and cannot—do to address the current cost of living woes. I’ve also been quite clear about the lessons from the 1970s and early 1980s—which suggest that when drastic increases in interest rates do actually work, they usually do so by creating extraordinary misery in the form of a major recession. This is not a historical experience that we should be trying to imitate any time soon.
Recent media interviews on this topic include:
Adena Ali, Toronto Star, “‘Tough’ 6-12 months ahead for Canadians amid inflation, rate hikes: experts.” July 14, 2022.
Radio interview with Shaye Ganam, 630 CHED – June 6, 2022. [Listen here].
Don Pittis, CBC News, We’re still waiting for this wage price spiral central bankers fear could send inflation soaring, 28 June, 2022.
Adena Ali, Le Devoir, L’inflation et la hausse des taux d’intérêt annoncent des mois «difficiles» 14 juillet 2022.
Don Pittis, CBC News, “Facing up to a ‘polycrisis’ that the Bank of Canada may not have the tools to fix” June 3, 2022.
Recent publications on this topic include:
“Why we can’t just ‘stop printing money’ to get inflation down,” The Conversation.
“The Inflation Game: Targets, Practices and the Social Production of Monetary Credibility.” New Political Economy. Vol. 24, No. 5 (2019), pp. 623-640. [Read]
“The quiet failures of early neoliberalism: From rational expectations to Keynesianism in reverse,” Review of International Studies, [first view published online May 2020].[Read]
“Varieties of ignorance in neoliberal policy: or the possibilities and perils of wishful economic thinking.” Review of International Political Economy. [Published online Mar 2021]. [Read]
The political economy of the COVID-19 pandemic
The massive policy crisis posed by COVID-19 has made visible a whole host of problems in our current political economic system—and in our capacity to respond effectively and creatively in times of great uncertainty.
How do we act effectively in a crisis when there is so much that we do not know? This is the challenge that policymakers face today on two very different fronts: public health and the economy. As the economic crisis that the coronavirus has sparked deepens, economic policymakers must also take steps while facing huge uncertainty about what the likely consequences will be.
In spite of the popularity of the idea that such moments of profound crisis and uncertainty are critical junctures in which new ideas and institutions are formed, what has been notable about the major economic crises since the 1990s is how policymakers have failed to significantly rethink economic ideas and redesign political economic institutions. The costs of this failure is now becoming apparent as the present crisis reveals the huge vulnerabilities and inequities in our political economic system.
Recent media interviews include:
“Confronting Uncertainty,” a Recovery Project Podcast, October 15, 2020.
Interview with Jacqueline Best and Randall Germain: Political Economy in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic. CIPS Podcast, April 19, 2020.
Don Pittis, CBC News, “Changing of the guard at Bank of Canada adds to COVID-19 uncertainty.” June 1, 2020.
Katherine Brulotte, Radio Canada, “Les sacrifices familiaux sont majoritairement le fardeau des femmes.” 26 mai, 2020.
Don Pittis, CBC News, “As COVID-19 hits the economy, bailouts are a fresh reminder why governments matter.” March 20, 2020.
Don Pittis, CBC News, “Does the economy need a helicopter rescue to escape COVID-19 disaster?” March 24, 2020.
Recent publications on this topic include:
“When it comes to COVID, our political leaders have been seduced by wishful thinking,” The Globe and Mail. November 30, 2020.
“We are entering another state of exception—but this time it is economic too,” SPERI Blog, April 17, 2020.
“Why it’s important to acknowledge what we don’t know in a crisis” CIPS blog, March 25, 2020.
“Can the Bank of Canada come to the rescue again?” Ottawa Citizen, March 11, 2020.
The next economic crisis?
Will central bank’s dramatic increases to interest rates precipitate another recession? How fragile is our financial system today—particularly non-banking institutions that haven’t benefited from the reforms introduced after the 2008 crisis? How should policymakers respond to these risks?
During and after the 2008 global financial crisis, I was one of many scholars trying to both make sense of what was going on, and suggest what kinds of lessons we should be drawing from the astonishing mess that global political and business leaders had made of our economies.
Two decades on, as we confront what some scholars have described as a “polycrisis” of interlocking political, economic and environmental risks, the financial system is once again being tested.
Recent media interviews on this topic include:
Don Pittis, CBC News, “Facing up to a ‘polycrisis’ that the Bank of Canada may not have the tools to fix” June 3, 2022.
Don Pittis, CBC News, “Does the economy need a helicopter rescue to escape COVID-19 disaster?” March 24, 2020.
David Parkinson and Barrie McKenna, The Globe and Mail, “The 10-year hangover: How the long shadow of the global financial crisis endures,” Sept 14, 2018.
Paul Haavardsrud, “Beyond NAFTA tweaks: How Trump’s anti-trade talk could be bad for Canada.” CBC News, Feb 16, 2017.
Publications that speak to these themes include:
“The Bank of Canada must seize the pandemic moment and do more for Canadians,” The Conversation, May 4, 2021 [with Peter Dietsch].
“Can the Bank of Canada come to the rescue again?” Ottawa Citizen, March 11, 2020.
“Why we aren’t ready for the next financial crisis,” Ottawa Citizen, September 20, 2018.
“Economic Wishful Thinking and the Democratic Crisis,” Current History. Vol. 117, No. 802, 2018, pp. 291-297.
“The coming crisis: the monetary policy credibility trap,” SPERI Blog, April 19, 2016.
“Why we need better central bank accountability,” Ethics & International Affairs Blog, June 16, 2016.
“Canada needs to do a better job of managing financial uncertainty”, The Hill Times, May 25, 2015.
Where to for democracy?
Like many other political economy scholars, I had hoped that the 2008 global financial crisis would translate into meaningful economic changes. That we would finally begin to reign in some of the excesses of global finance. And more importantly, that we would finally begin to tackle inequality and make the economy work for the many people who had been left behind since the 1980s and 1990s.
Instead, we have witnessed the election of right-wing populist leaders like Donald Trump, growing disaffection with democratic politics among the young, and very little movement on inequality around the world. Without being reductionist, we do need to begin to identify and understand the links between decades of poor economic policy and the threats to democracy that we face today, which have only become more visible in the context of the coronavirus crisis.
Recent media interviews include:
Paul “Why Trump’s trade war makes sense — if you’re Trump” July 7, 2018.
Don Pittis, CBC News, “Why wages aren’t rising while workers remain in short supply,” June 22, 2017.
Some of my recent publications on this subject include:
“How Austerity Measures Helped Fuel Today’s Populism,” The Conversation, October 1, 2018.
“Why nationalizing the Trans Mountain pipeline is undemocratic,” The Globe and Mail, 7 June, 2018.
“Economic Wishful Thinking and the Democratic Crisis,” Current History. Vol. 117, No. 802, 2018, pp. 291-297.
“Fat Cats in Paradise: Why Private Wealth is a Political Issue,” SPERI Blog, January 15, 2018.
“Bring Politics Back to Monetary Policy: How Technocratic Exceptionalism Fuels Populism,” Foreign Affairs. December, 2017.
“Why we need better central bank accountability,” Ethics & International Affairs Blog, June 16, 2016.
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