Reflections on Inflation and the Monetary Policy Committee

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England came into being in 1997, and until 2021 UK inflation was low and quite stable. The lecture will give an account of the early years of the MPC, review the response to the financial crisis of 2008, and then comment on some puzzling developments from 2013 onwards, including the scale of quantitative easing. It will conclude with discussion of the causes and consequences of the recent inflation surge.

About the speaker

John Vickers is a professor of economics at the University of Oxford and the Warden of All Souls College. Previously he was Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, chief economist at the Bank of England and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, head of the Office of Fair Trading, and chair of the Independent Commission on Banking. His research interests mainly concern competition and regulation.

About the lecture series

The Peter Sinclair Town Hall lecture series features world class economists presenting their research and its real world implications to an audience of academic economists, economics students, and the wider community. The lectures are diverse in topic but united in that they bring the lens of economics to real world issues, demonstrating how economics can be both useful and a force for good in understanding and shaping the world. The lecture series is inspired by and commemorates Emeritus Professor Peter Sinclair, whose breadth of knowledge, curiosity, and kindness inspired his students and colleagues immeasurably.