December 11, 2019

RE-AIR: Robert Samuelson on Paul Volcker and the Great Inflation

57 minutes

Robert Samuelson is an economics columnist for the Washington Post and spent several decades working at Newsweek, where he wrote on various economic topics. Robert is the author of several books, including *The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement* and *The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence*. He joins the show today to talk about the latter and its implications for today. David and Robert go in-depth about the Great Inflation, as they discuss the disagreement within macroeconomics during the 60s and 70s, the history and significance of the period, and how Ronald Reagan and Paul Volcker sought to end the inflation.

Tributes to Paul Volcker:

*Remembering Paul Volcker, The Man Who Tamed Inflation* by Scott Sumner

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/473963-remembering-paul-volcker-the-man-who-tamed-inflation

*Paul Volcker's Legacy* by Scott Sumner

https://www.econlib.org/paul-volckers-legacy/

*How Paul Volcker Beat Inflation and Saved an Independent Fed* by Roger Lowenstein

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-paul-volcker-beat-inflation-and-saved-an-independent-fed/2019/12/10/7e58d7ae-1b64-11ea-87f7-f2e91143c60d_story.html

*Paul Volcker Was Inflation's Worst Enemy* by John Taylor

https://www.wsj.com/articles/paul-volcker-was-inflations-worst-enemy-11575937617

*Paul A. Volcker, Fed Chairman Who Waged War on Inflation, Is Dead at 92* by Binyamin Appelbaum and Robert D. Hershey Jr.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/business/paul-a-volcker-dead.html

Transcript for the episode: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/podcasts/12112019/robert-samuelson-paul-volcker-and-great-inflation

Robert's Washington Post profile & bio: https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/robert-j-samuelson/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6e300b47761d