BRAC Business school hosted a seminar on ‘Inflation and Development’ on the 12th of March, 2023, at the conference room of BBS. It was attended by faculty members, teaching assistants, research associates, and BBS students. Prof. Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, also known as Anis Chowdhury, was the speaker at the event. Prof. Anis Chowdhury, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Business, Western Sydney University, where he was a professor of Economics from 2001-2008, before joining the United Nations Headquarters in New York. He is the Managing Editor of the Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal; and a Co-editor of the Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, which he initiated in 1995. Between July 2012 and May 2015, he served as Director, of the Macroeconomic Policy & Development Division and Statistics Division of the UN-ESCAP (Bangkok). Prof. Anis then moved to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA, New York) as Chief of the Multi-Stakeholder Engagement & Outreach branch of the Financing for Development Office where he remained until he retired from the UN on 31 January 2016.
The title of his seminar was “Inflation and Inclusive Sustainable Development: Implications for Monetary Policy”. It was based on his forthcoming paper, “Inflation and Development: Central Bank’s Role Revisited” in Development, the Journal of the Society for International Development. He began by providing opposing theoretical perspectives of the Keynesian and neo-classical schools of thought on the inflation-development relationship. He explained various channels through which inflation can positively (or negatively) impact development according to the Keynesians (or neo-classical). He then presented empirical evidence from a large number of developing countries covering the period 1990-2020 to demonstrate that the common perception about the negative impacts of inflation on development is driven by beliefs and not by facts. He pointed out that in the neo-classical model, the welfare cost of inflation is small.
The key messages of his presentation were:
Dr. Anis referred to a lot of historical evidence, particularly from the fast-growing East and Southeast Asian countries, e.g., the Republic of Korea (South), Indonesia, and China, in support of his arguments.
The seminar was adjourned with a vote of thanks by Prof. Sang Lee, Dean, BBS along with a little token of appreciation to the guest speaker Professor Anisuzzaman Chowdhury.