Recent debates about post-Covid inflation highlight different assumptions about the spatial logic of money. On the one hand, central bankers who emphasize the role of interest rates to manage excess demand and counter rising inflationary expectations rely on a universalist and deterritorialized conception of inflation. On the other, there has been a growing number of critical voices emphasizing the spatially disparate causes of inflation, ranging from supply-side pressures in certain industries to corporate pricing, drawing on a more particularist and territorialized conception of inflation that focuses on specific actors and places. Given that the deterritorialized approach to inflation has dominated policy thinking and practice since the 1980s, the appearance of this alternative spatial logic is significant. By providing a historical overview of the different spatial logics underpinning the theories and practices of inflation management since the 1970s, this talk seeks to make sense of this return of the salience of place in inflation policy today. Although it is hard to say what the long-term consequences of the recent return of inflation will be, it has certainly revealed some of the political limits of deterritorialized economic policies, at least in the context of inflation where the experience of money is very personal. It turns out that place has never disappeared from monetary policy. It was merely concealed—and it is back again, with a vengeance.

This is a hybrid lecture, with both in-person and online attendance available. In-person guests should head to Bush House North East wing, room 1.03. Online guests will be provided with a joining link closer to the time.