The traditional rhetoric of the World Economic Forum centered on global integration, climate change and international cooperation. Not anymore.
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The William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance
Mark Blyth
Director, The William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, The William R. Rhodes ’57 Professor of International Economics, Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs
Research Interests
International and comparative political economy, banks and finance, Europe, monetary policy
Biography
Mark Blyth is a political economist whose research focuses upon how uncertainty and randomness impact complex systems, particularly economic systems, and why people continue to believe stupid economic ideas despite buckets of evidence to the contrary. He is the author of several books, including Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea (Oxford University Press 2013, and The Future of the Euro (with Matthias Matthijs) (Oxford University Press 2015).
Recent News
On the Media, WNYC Studios
Trump's War on the Fed, Explained (interview with Mark Blyth)
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation against the Federal Reserve and its chairman. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the Trump administration’s pressure campaign plays into a larger trend chipping away at central banks. Plus, how a teacher in Russia stood up to Putin’s propaganda.
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The great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter argued that you could spot a fundamental economic transition by the arrival of new types of goods, new production methods, and new forms of industrial organization. The spread of cheap drones, phones, and solar checks all of these boxes.
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A Book with Legs Podcast
Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli - Inflation (interview with Mark Blyth)
Mark Blyth told the A Book with Legs podcast that inflation reflects broad economic shifts driven by modern forces beyond rising prices, as discussed in his new book Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers.
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There is strong evidence to support the case for interest-rate cuts in the United States, given the disproportionate impact of higher rates on the most vulnerable. Yet with Donald Trump loudly demanding that the US Federal Reserve lower borrowing costs, the situation has become more complicated than it needed to be.
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Project Syndicate
Inflationary Tales (Mark Blyth research cited)
The inflationary surge of the 1970s has long served as a cautionary tale, and that episode has shaped how central banks have carried out their mandates ever since. Two recent books revisit the standard narrative about that period in light of the 2021–23 inflation, offering sharply contrasting lessons for the future.
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