Informe Económico y Financiero #30

For more than fifteen years, Esade, with the support of Banco Sabadell, has published the Informe Económico y Financiero (Economic and Financial Report) twice a year. The Report aims to analyse the main economic trends and contribute ideas to address the main economic policy challenges. Esade seeks to stay true to its mission and contribute to society with what it does best, providing knowledge to improve public debate. This 30th edition includes an analysis of the current situation and trends of the Spanish and international economy and in-depth articles on one of the main challenges for post-pandemic growth: inflation.

Toni Roldán, director of the Informe Económico y Financiero, takes stock of the current situation and introduces the threats to growth in 2022 in his welcome article. This is followed by the analysis of the international and national economic situation. First, Josep Comajuncosa, associate professor in Esade’s Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, warns of the global rise in inflation as one of “The challenges of the recovery” and of the need for central banks to normalise monetary policy. Next, Manuel Hidalgo, professor of Economics at Pablo de Olavide University, senior fellow and co-director of the NextGenEU Observatory, points out that in Spain the fall in private consumption in 2021 may have been due to rising inflation. If this trend continues, the growth of our economy will be held back in 2022.

This time, the guest contributors come from the field of monetary policy. First, the Governor of the Banco de España, Pablo Hernández de Cos, in his article “The rise in inflation: a more intense and persistent phenomenon than initially expected”, analyses the causes behind this increase and its degree of persistence. Tano Santos, David L. and Elsie M. Dodd Professor of Finance at Columbia Business School, warns of the transfer of risks from the private to the public sector during the financial crisis and the pandemic in “Monetary policy, financial stability and the return of inflation”.

In the debate section, Francisco Vázquez Grande, an economist at the Federal Reserve, examines “The pandemic and inflation in the United States”. He is followed by Omar Rachedi, professor in Esade’s Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, with an analysis of “Inflation in times of pandemic” in which he points out how central banks are torn between avoiding stagflation and leaving behind the years of deflation and negative interest rates.

Finally, Antonio García Maldonado reviews two books: “Shutdown” by Adam Tooze and “What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract” by Minouche Shafik.

You can watch the webinar presenting the Report here: