Who's Afraid of Inflation?

10/27/21 • 32 min

What's behind the price hikes on cars, food, fuel, and many other items? Is there too much money in the economy? Is it a supply chain problem? And is this a bump on the road to recovery from the economic shocks of the pandemic or a long-term trend? We ask GSAS alumna Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan and a member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama Administration, how worried consumers should be about inflation.

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The Incredible Shrinking Vaccine Efficacy

COVID-19 infections are surging again in the U.S., despite the availability of vaccines that are both safe and effective. In the inaugural episode of the GSAS Colloquy podcast, alumnus Michael Lin, a microbiologist and Professor at Stanford University talks about vaccination mandates as a path out of the pandemic, but also about the decline in vaccine efficacy over time. He advocates booster shots for adults over the age of 16, as well as continued public health measures like masking indoors. Lin also speaks about ongoing work at his lab to develop a new treatment for COVID-19 that targets the virus on the molecular level.

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