A leading macroeconomist provided expert insight into one of the issues most affecting people and businesses worldwide at a special Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) event.

Klaus Adam, Professor of Economics and Dean of the Department of Law and Economics at the University of Mannheim, Germany, brought light to the important issue of inflation at the 2023 Esmée Fairbairn Lecture.

Professor Adam engaged an audience of students, members of the public, and academics as he examined an important topic across everyone’s lives in 2023.

He discussed the social costs of inflation, giving a fascinating insight into the optimal rate of inflation across time and countries. He discussed the role of the high rate of product turnover in the marketplace, and how this is important for determining the optimal inflation rate that a welfare maximising central bank should target.

Professor Themis Pavlidis, Head of the Department of Economics in LUMS, said: “It was an honour for us to have Professor Adam delivering the 2023 Esmée Fairbairn Lecture. He highlighted lesser-known areas of a widely-examined topic that can have a fundamental impact on the policies of central banks and society.

“Professor Adam’s work demonstrates the importance of the practical impact of research activities in macroeconomics on business, government policy and society – an aspect that is very much at the forefront of the research we carry out here in Lancaster."

Professor Adam is a former Professor at the University of Oxford and Nuffield College, and worked for the European Central Bank. He holds many illustrious positions, including as a Council Member of the European Economic Association, Scientific Vice Chair of the Euro Area Business Cycle Network, and a Member of the Academic Advisory Board of the German Ministry of Finance. He received the Carl-Menger Prize of the German Economic Association in 2016 for his contributions to the area of Monetary and Financial Economics.

“It was wonderful to welcome Professor Adam to LUMS for an event as important to us as the Esmée Fairbairn Lecture,” said LUMS Executive Dean Professor Claire Leitch. “All of us have been affected by the issue of rising inflation in our daily lives over the last year, and in bringing such insight and perspective to the subject, Professor Adam ensured all of us in attendance were fully invested in his talk.”

Lancaster University's Department of Economics has organised the Esmée Fairbairn Lecture Series – funded through support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation – since 1981, attracting eminent speakers from business, politics, think tanks, the media and academia.