This initiative by the RES aims to bring the best communicators in the economics profession into contact with a wide public and to show the importance of top-quality economic research to questions that matter to
all citizens.

The Royal Economic Society Annual Lecture 2008
Professor Timothy Besley delivered the Society’s 2008 Annual Public Lecture in London on 18 November and Glasgow on 20 November.

A renowned economist and external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, Professor Besley discussed the questions lying at the heart of successful monetary policy-making. What causes inflation and what can be done to prevent it? Are institutional arrangements key in shaping the conduct of monetary policy? The lecture selectively considered competing explanations and the lessons for monetary policy that come from our understanding of history. It also discussed lessons from the experience of other countries in controlling inflation.

The full lecture is available to view here in streaming Windows Media format. Alternatively you can download the video in Windows Media and mp4 formats. For the optimum viewing experience we recommend that you save the files to your computer by right-clicking the Download Video file and selecting "save target as". Then open them with the player

Streaming Video (1hr 11 minutes) - wmv Format

Download Video (1hr 11 minutes, 124mb) - wmv Format

Download Video (1hr 11 minutes, 29mb) - mp4 Format

PDF Slides - (3,729kb)