Beyond the cost of living crisis

Analysis

BBC

Government, Politics, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Bank of England says inflation might reach 11 per cent this year. There are warnings that some people will have to choose between heating and eating.

But what does it mean for the whole economy when prices just keep rising? In the 1970s inflation in the UK led to prices and wages spiralling as workers fought for wages that would keep up with prices.

Those years were dominated by waves of strikes and social unrest as inflation became embedded in the economic system. The current situation is being exacerbated by Covid 19, the war in Ukraine and Brexit so is there anything that government can do to stop it? How bad could it get? And are the days of low inflation gone forever?

Reporter Philip Coggan talks to: Manoj Pradhan consultant at Talking Macroeconomics Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the RSA and former Chief Economist at the Bank of England Jagjit Chadha: Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium Ruth Gregory, Economist at Capital Economics Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics at Harvard University

Producer: Claire Bowes Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production co-ordinators: Helena Warwick-Cross and Maria Ogundele Sound engineer: Neil Churchill

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.6	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.4	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable
0:14.3	experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC
0:20.4	makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:41.0	The Queen is having a Jubilee.
0:45.0	Abba concerts are sold out and Kate Bush has a number one single.
0:50.0	But while those echoes of the 1970s might create a nostalgic glow in older Britons,
0:55.0	there's also a darker reminder of that decade.
0:58.0	The scourge of inflation has returned.
1:02.0	Prices in the UK are rising at the fastest rate for 40 years and maybe heading even higher.
1:08.0	But what does it mean for the whole economy when prices go up and up?
1:12.0	In the 1970s, inflation in the UK led to prices and wages spiraling,
1:17.0	with some workers receiving pay rises of up to 30%
1:21.0	to cope with price rises of more than 25%.
1:24.0	Many want an all-out strike.
1:31.0	I've got to the stage now where I'm just not living, it's just existence.
1:36.0	Has it got worse for you?
1:38.0	Well it has, I mean things have gone up and wages haven't gone up.
	...

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