Growing economic inequality has become a matter of increasing public and policymaking concern in recent years. Some have argued that unconventional monetary policies aggravated this trend, by boosting asset valuations and wealth inequality. The debate is intensified by deep recessions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and resurgent food and energy inflation increasing cost of living in 2022, which unequally impact different groups within society. This event marks the launch of the book Inequality Hysteresis, which highlights a new facet of inequality: its persistence or ‘hysteresis’ after recessions.
The book shows how inequality increases faster and more persistently in the aftermath of recessions and how greater income inequality is associated with deeper recessions, increasing the risk of an adverse feedback loop. For their part, central banks can most effectively contribute to a more equitable society by deploying the necessary tools to deliver on their mandated objectives of price and economic stability. Our speakers highlight the importance of taking inequality into account when designing and implementing fiscal and monetary policy.
Meet our speakers and chair
Luiz Awazu Pereira da Silva is the Deputy General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements. Prior to that, he was Deputy Governor at the Central Bank of Brazil, and served as Deputy Finance Minister, at the Ministry of Finance and as Chief Economist of the Ministry of Budget and Planning. He has also worked at the World Bank and, in Japan, at the Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policy of the Ministry of Finance and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
Deniz Igan is Head of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Bank for International Settlements. She has held several positions at the International Monetary Fund, such as the Chief of the Systemic Issues Division in the Research Department and co-editor of IMF Research Perspectives. She is a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and a fellow in the European University Institute School of Transnational Governance Policy Leaders Program. She holds a PhD from Princeton University.
Benoit Mojon is Head of Economic Analysis at the Bank for International Settlements. Before joining the BIS, he worked at the Bank of France. He was Head of the Monetary Policy Division from 2008 to 2011, then became Director of Monetary and Financial Studies and a member of the Eurosystem Monetary Policy Committee. He has held research positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the European Central Bank. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Paris Nanterre.
Kirsten Sehnbruch is a British Academy Global Professor and a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Previously, she was a Research Fellow at the Universidad de Chile, Director of the Institute for Public Policy at the Universidad Diego Portales (Chile), and a Lecturer at the University of California, at Berkeley.
More about this event
This event forms part of LSE’s Understanding the UK Economy series, showcasing research and expertise on the state of the UK economy and its future.
The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many of the School's departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.
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A podcast of this event is available to download from Inequality Hysteresis: how can central banks contribute to an equitable society?
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