Public Administration for a New Season: Reflecting on Neglected Rural Concerns

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Jeremy L. Hall
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13536

Public Administration for a New Season: Reflecting on Neglected Rural Concerns 613

We suffer from the longest and one of the worst

sustained inflations in our national history. It

distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift,

and crushes the struggling young and fixed-

income elderly alike.

—Ronald Reagan, January 20, 1981

Challenges and conflicts dominate the media

and social media. Just as COVID-19 begins

to wane, rumors stir of a new variant closing

something down somewhere across the globe. Then

we receive word of a worrisome Monkeypox outbreak

that is already global in its reach. A fresh wave of

gun violence has resurrected the conflict over the

second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which

guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. This has

ignited a firestorm of political jockeying around gun

policy, mental health policy, school security, and

even police funding (or defunding). But, of course,

the elephant in the room today is inflation, fueled in

part by the war in Ukraine, post-pandemic supply

shortages, residual effects of free-flowing government

cash to support pandemic recovery, and importantly,

record-setting fuel prices. Fuel prices, in particular,

are pinching the American pocketbook; not just

through increased commute costs, but also the direct

association with food prices. Skyrocketing inflation,

or policy responses to tamp it down, now seem poised

to bring on recession, and this one could be a doosey

(Henney2022a; Henney2022b). Today, the U.S.

Federal Reserve Board raised the benchmark federal

funds rate by 75 basis points for the first time in

nearly 30 years, with additional increases expected

throughout the year (Henney2022c).

I am keenly aware of the toll inflation has taken on

my monthly budget (food and gas, most notably,

but services are also increasing in price) and I

shudder to think about the real effect on the long-

term purchasing power of my retirement nest egg as

that day approaches. In fact, I just noticed that my

retirement account has decreased in value by more

than I have earned from working since January 1

this year, but that’s just the current value, not the

real, inflation-affected value. So, at some point

sooner or later, I may be forced to acknowledge that

I do not require avocados, nor pineapples, or even

watermelons out of season. I think of all the items

I have considered, it is the $8.00 watermelons that

have bothered me most. That’s more than double

last season’s prices. Milk was used as a loss leader at

my local Wal-Mart at 99 cents per gallon, but now

it’s nearly $4.00, and at those rates, I could quite

literally come out ahead by owning my own dairy

cow (a prospect my daughter finds more appealing

than I do). We will need to be increasingly vigilant in

accounting for the effect of inflation in our empirical

models—particularly time-series models.

Ronald Reagan inherited the nastiest case of stagflation

in memorable history, so consequently, he also spoke

a number of truths and witticisms about its ravages.

Afew from Reagan’s(1981) speech appear as follows:

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening

as an armed robber, and as deadly as a hit man.

We don’t have inflation because the people are

living too well. We have inflation because the

government is living too well.

Inflation is not just high prices; it’s a reduction

in the value of our money. When the money

supply is increased but the goods and services

available for buying are not, we have too much

money chasing too few goods. (Reagan1981)

Recent events have given me pause, as well as

cause, to think about the relationships that have

been supportive of globalization, and in turn, just

how much our recent policy and administration

focus—our governance lens—has been global.

As a global journal, Public Administration Review

represents stakeholders from around the world,

and we have called for increased comparative work

Public Administration for a New Season: Reflecting on

Neglected Rural Concerns

Jeremy L. Hall

University of Central Florida

Editorial

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 4, pp. 613–618. © 2022 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13536.