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| "No Increase: 2018 Prices Continue" and "Continuing from the Place Where We Have Been Struggling With Inflation." İstikbal Furniture Store, Ankara, September 2019 |
One of the unfortunate facts of life in Turkey is inflation, which has risen
sharply over the past few years.
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| Screenshot of Wolfram Alpha data, September 2019 |
But what interests me is the ways that economic and monetary policy become a matter not just of public concern but materialized in the form of furniture. That buying furniture can be folded into this broader '
mücadele' seemed worthy of note. As always, these moments of fieldwork also ask me to think about the similarities and differences with an American context. Notwithstanding the president's current arguments in favor of further cuts, I've generally felt like monetary policy is distant from most aspects of public debate in the United States.
What does it mean for inflation in particular - and monetary policy in general - to be so woven into the everyday objects that furnish people's lives?
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