'We're All Worse Off': Top Economist Says People Need to Accept That Everyone Is Poorer in Today's Economy On a recent podcast, Bank of England's chief economist, Huw Pill, said that Brits need to stop asking for pay raises, which is driving inflation higher.
By Madeline Garfinkle •
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Americans aren't the only ones grappling with rampant inflation.
During an episode of Columbia Law School and the Millstein Center's "Beyond Unprecedented" podcast, Bank of England's chief economist, Huw Pill, said that people in the U.K. "need to accept that we're all worse off."
Pill explained that as people keep demanding higher pay, it only causes businesses to rack up prices — further exacerbating inflation.
"Somehow in the UK, someone needs to accept that they're worse off and stop trying to maintain their real spending power by bidding up prices, whether through higher wages or passing energy costs on to customers," he said on the podcast.
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Pill's comments come a year after Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey told the BBC that there needed to be some level of "wage moderation" as a means to tame inflation "more quickly."
"That pass-the-parcel game that's going on here, that game is one that's generating inflation, and that part of inflation can persist," Pill added on the podcast.
As of March 2023, inflation in the U.K. was 10.1% — down from 10.4% from a month prior, but still more than double the current 5% inflation rate in the U.S.
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