Yesterday, the Bank of Canada announced a 0.5 per cent interest rate hike — its biggest one-time increase since 2000 and the second time the bank has increased its interest rate in two months. While it might seem like the central bank is coming to rescue us from inflation yet again, that might not be the case this time around.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Jacqueline Best from the University of Ottawa debunks why monetarism — the idea that inflation can be fixed by simply stopping the central bank from circulating money in the economy — doesn’t work. Best writes that since most money is actually created by private banks, not the central bank, any attempts to limit the central bank’s money supply are doomed to failure.

Best argues that if we truly want to solve the inflation issue, we need to understand and address the underlying causes of the problem. While there are no simple solutions to our current inflationary challenge, Best is adamant about Canada needing a holistic approach. She points to U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent strategy of pushing companies to reduce costs, rather than wages, as one such example.

Also today:

• Bosnia-Herzegovina could be the next site of Russian-fuelled conflict
• #PolandFirstToHelp: How Poland is using humanitarianism to boost its propaganda
• Apples weren’t always big, juicy and sweet — ancient ones were small and bitter
• How ‘Euphoria’ challenges viewers’ expectations of what a television show should be