Europe’s current economic situation has striking parallels with the 1970s oil price shocks. In this post, Professor Waltraud Schelkle (Political and Social Sciences/Schuman Centre) explains why central banks are reluctant to fight inflation resolutely now: their fixation on asset markets as the metric for successful stabilisation.

Political scientist Johannes Karremans urges for greater public debate on the political dimensions of financial markets, where the creation (or destruction) of virtual wealth has very real consequences for the redistribution of tangible wealth.