It was a great privilege to welcome Professor Tarun Ramadorai to address the Senior House boys at assembly on Friday 11th November. Tarun, who holds the chair of Financial Economics at Imperial College, spoke on Inflation and the current crisis: unpacking the news. The boys were rapt as Tarun went through the causes of supply-side inflation, labour inputs and the geopolitical challenges posed by the war in Ukraine coupled with countries trying to source products closer to home. The post-Covid scene has led to workers realigning priorities and work-life balance; the audience were left to ponder the incompatibility of what the Professor termed ‘revenge consumption’, a spike in demand which happened at the end of the lockdowns, and the phenomenon known as ‘Quiet Quitting’ which has had an adverse effect on supply.
That such complex macroeconomic theories were made intelligible to lay people (young and old alike!) illustrates Tarun’s brilliance as an academic and teacher – the two are not always synonymous. The talk was very interactive with lots of contributions from the boys who Tarun described as
‘intelligent, curious and reflective’.
