Prices, wages, public goods: The perfect storm?

The financial difficulties of a large part of the population came to the fore again on the occasion of two surveys presented at a recent event at the Alexis Tsipras Institute. One, by pollsters Metron Analysis, shows that hopelessness about the present (many are struggling to make ends meet) and pessimism about the future (many are planning to cut spending, even on essentials) are taking over. The other, by the state-funded Center of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE), finds that inflation affects the poorest households more than the wealthiest - thus confirming previous research, economic science and common sense, which argue that the lower the income, the greater the proportion of it is spent on energy and food - the two categories of goods whose prices have appreciated a lot lately.

The jump in inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine...