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{{short description|Devaluation of currency over a period of time}}
{{otheruses|Inflate}}
{{about|a rise in general price level|the expansion of the early universe|Inflation (cosmology)|other uses|Inflation (disambiguation)}}
{{for|increases in the money supply or debasement of the currency|monetary inflation}}
{{POV|date=September 2008}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Macroeconomics sidebar}}
] in April 2024]]
]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=13 April 2022 |title=CPIH Annual Rate 00: All Items 2015=100 |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/l55o/mm23 |access-date=13 April 2022 |website=] |archive-date=April 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424051728/https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/l55o/mm23 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]


In ], '''inflation''' is a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an ]. This is usually measured using a ] (CPI).<ref>{{citation |title=What Is Inflation? |date=June 8, 2023 |url=https://www.clevelandfed.org/center-for-inflation-research/inflation-101/what-is-inflation-start |access-date=June 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330131140/https://www.clevelandfed.org/our-research/center-for-inflation-research/inflation-101/what-is-inflation-get-started |url-status=dead |publisher=Cleveland Federal Reserve |archive-date=March 30, 2021}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bls.gov/bls/inflation.htm|title=Overview of BLS Statistics on Inflation and Prices : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics|publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics|date=June 5, 2019|access-date=November 3, 2021|archive-date=December 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210164020/https://www.bls.gov/bls/inflation.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Salwati |first1=Nasiha |last2=Wessel |first2=David |date=June 28, 2021 |title=How does the government measure inflation? |publisher=Brookings Institution |url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/06/28/how-does-the-government-measure-inflation/ |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115162420/https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/06/28/how-does-the-government-measure-inflation/ |archive-date=November 15, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/economy_14419.htm|title=The Fed – What is inflation and how does the Federal Reserve evaluate changes in the rate of inflation?|website=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System|date=September 9, 2016|access-date=November 3, 2021|archive-date=July 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717231718/https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/economy_14419.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the ] of money.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014031836/http://www.sedlabanki.is/?PageID=195 |date=October 14, 2008}}, Central Bank of Iceland, Accessed on September 11, 2008.</ref><ref>Paul H. Walgenbach, Norman E. Dittrich and Ernest I. Hanson, (1973), Financial Accounting, New York: Harcourt Brace Javonovich, Incorporated. P. 429. "The Measuring Unit principle: The unit of measure in accounting shall be the base money unit of the most relevant currency. This principle also assumes that the unit of measure is stable; that is, changes in its general purchasing power are not considered sufficiently important to require adjustments to the basic financial statements."</ref> The opposite of CPI inflation is ], a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the '''inflation rate''', the annualized percentage change in a general ].<ref name="Mankiw 2002 22–32">{{Harvnb|Mankiw|2002|pp=22–32}}.</ref> As prices faced by households do not all increase at the same rate, the ] (CPI) is often used for this purpose.
]
{{Economics sidebar}}
'''Inflation''' usually refers to a general rise in the ] of goods and services over a period of time. This is also referred to as '''price inflation'''.<ref>Michael Burda and Charles Wyplosz(1997), ''Macroeconomics: A European text'', 2nd ed., p. 579 (Glossary). ISBN 0-19-877468-0 See also: Olivier Blanchard (2000), ''Macroeconomics'', 2nd ed., Glossary. ISBN 013013306X and Robert Barro (1993), ''Macroeconomics'', 4th ed., Glossary. See also: Andrew Abel and Ben Bernanke (1995), ''Macroeconomics'', 2nd ed., Glossary. ISBN 0201543923.</ref> The term "inflation" originally referred to the debasement of the currency, and was used to describe increases in the money supply (]); however, debates regarding cause and effect have led to its primary use today in describing price inflation. Inflation can also be described as a decline in the real value of money. When the general level of prices rises, each monetary unit buys fewer goods and services. Inflation is measured by calculating the ], which is the percentage rate of change for a price index, such as the ].


Changes in inflation are widely attributed to fluctuations in ] ] for goods and services (also known as ]s, including changes in ] or ]), changes in available supplies such as during ] (also known as ]s), or changes in inflation expectations, which may be self-fulfilling.<ref name=Blanchard/> Moderate inflation affects economies in both positive and negative ways. The negative effects would include an increase in the ] of holding money; uncertainty over future inflation, which may discourage investment and savings; and, if inflation were rapid enough, shortages of ] as consumers begin ] out of concern that prices will increase in the future. Positive effects include reducing unemployment due to ],<ref>{{Harvnb|Mankiw|2002|pp=238–255}}.</ref> allowing the central bank greater freedom in carrying out ], encouraging loans and investment instead of money hoarding, and avoiding the inefficiencies associated with deflation.
Economists generally agree that high rates of inflation and ] are caused by high growth rates of the ].<ref>Robert Barro and Vittorio Grilli (1994), ''European Macroeconomics'', Ch. 8, p. 139, Fig. 8.1. Macmillan, ISBN 0333577647.</ref> Views on the factors that determine moderate rates of inflation are more varied: changes in inflation are sometimes attributed to fluctuations in ] ] for goods and services or in available supplies (i.e. changes in ]) and sometimes to changes in the money supply (i.e. the amount of units of currency). However, there is general consensus that in the long run, inflation is caused by money supply increasing faster than the growth rate of the economy.


Today, some economists favour a low and steady rate of inflation, though inflation is less popular with the general public than with economists, since "inflation simultaneously transfers some of people's income into the hands of government."<ref name="econjournalwatch.org">{{Cite web |last=Hummel |first=Jeffrey Rogers |title=Death and Taxes, Including Inflation: the Public versus Economists |url=https://econjwatch.org/articles/death-and-taxes-including-inflation-the-public-versus-economists |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=econjwatch.org |publisher=Econ Journal Watch: inflation, deadweight loss, deficit, money, national debt, seigniorage, taxation, velocity |page=56}}</ref> Low (as opposed to zero or ]) inflation reduces the probability of economic ] by enabling the labor market to adjust more quickly in a downturn and reduces the risk that a ] prevents ] from stabilizing the economy while avoiding the costs associated with high inflation.<ref name="aeaweb.org">{{Cite journal |last=Svensson |first=Lars E. O. |date=December 2003 |title=Escaping from a Liquidity Trap and Deflation: The Foolproof Way and Others |journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives |language=en |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=145–166 |doi=10.1257/089533003772034934 |s2cid=17420811 |issn=0895-3309|doi-access=free }}</ref> The task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is usually given to ]s that control monetary policy, normally through the setting of interest rates and by carrying out ]s.<ref name=Blanchard/>
Most ]s are tasked with keeping inflation at a low level and there are a number of methods that have been suggested to control it. Inflation can be affected to a significant extent through setting ]s and through other operations (that is, using ]). Some emphasize reducing demand in general, often through ], using increased ] or reduced government spending to reduce demand. Others advocate fighting inflation by fixing the ] between the currency and some reference currency such as gold. Another method attempted in the past has been wage and price controls (]).


==Origins== == Terminology ==
The term originates from the Latin ''inflare'' (to blow into or inflate). Conceptually, inflation refers to the general trend of prices, not changes in any specific price. For example, if people choose to buy more cucumbers than tomatoes, cucumbers consequently become more expensive and tomatoes less expensive. These changes are not related to inflation; they reflect a shift in tastes. Inflation is related to the value of currency itself. When currency was linked with gold, if new gold deposits were found, the price of gold and the value of currency would fall, and consequently, prices of all other goods would become higher.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/cards/inflation-definition-and-explanation/inflation-explanation|title=What is inflation? – Inflation, explained |date=July 25, 2014|work=Vox|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=August 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140804103626/http://www.vox.com/cards/inflation-definition-and-explanation/inflation-explanation|url-status=live}}</ref>
Inflation originally referred to the debasement of the currency, where gold coins were collected by the government (e.g. the king or the ruler of the region), melted down, mixed with other metals (e.g. silver, copper or lead) and reissued at the same nominal value. By mixing gold with other metals, the government could increase the total number of coins issued using the same amount of gold, and thus gained a profit known as ]. However, this action increased the money supply, and lowered the relative value of money.<ref>Frank Shostak, ""</ref>


===Classical economics===
In some schools of economics and particularly in the United States in the 19th century (when the term first began to be used frequently), inflation originally was used to refer to increases of the money supply (]), while deflation meant decreasing it.<ref name="Bryan"/> However, classical political economists from Hume to Ricardo did distinguish between and debate the cause and effect: the Bullionists, for example, argued that the Bank of England had over-issued banknotes (over-increased the money supply) and caused 'the depreciation of banknotes' (price inflation).<ref>Mark Blaug, "", pg. 129: "...this was the cause of inflation, or, to use the language of the day, 'the depreciation of banknotes.'"</ref>
By the nineteenth century, economists categorised three separate factors that cause a rise or fall in the price of goods: a change in the '']'' or production costs of the good, a change in the ''price of money'' which then was usually a fluctuation in the ] price of the metallic content in the currency, and ''currency depreciation'' resulting from an increased supply of currency relative to the quantity of redeemable metal backing the currency. Following the proliferation of private ] currency printed during the ], the term "inflation" started to appear as a direct reference to the ''currency depreciation'' that occurred as the quantity of redeemable banknotes outstripped the quantity of metal available for their redemption. At that time, the term inflation referred to the ] of the currency, and not to a rise in the price of goods.<ref name="Bryan">{{cite journal|first=Michael F.|last=Bryan|url=https://www.clevelandfed.org/newsroom-and-events/publications/economic-commentary/economic-commentary-archives/1997-economic-commentaries/ec-19971015-on-the-origin-and-evolution-of-the-word-inflation.aspx|publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Economic Commentary|date=October 15, 1997|title=On the Origin and Evolution of the Word 'Inflation'|journal=Economic Commentary|issue=October 15, 1997|access-date=May 22, 2017|archive-date=October 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028064428/https://www.clevelandfed.org/newsroom-and-events/publications/economic-commentary/economic-commentary-archives/1997-economic-commentaries/ec-19971015-on-the-origin-and-evolution-of-the-word-inflation.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> This relationship between the over-supply of banknotes and a resulting ] in their value was noted by earlier classical economists such as ] and ], who would go on to examine and debate what effect a currency devaluation has on the price of goods.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blaug |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nd6alor2goC&dq=bullionist+inflation&pg=PA128 |title=Economic Theory in Retrospect |date=1997-03-27 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57701-4 |pages=129 |language=en |quote=...this was the cause of inflation, or, to use the language of the day, 'the depreciation of banknotes.'}}</ref>


==Related definitions== === Related concepts ===
Other economic concepts related to inflation include: ]{{snd}}a fall in the general price level;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ashford |first=Kate |date=2023-11-16 |title=What Is Deflation? Why Is It Bad For The Economy? |url=https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/what-is-deflation/#:~:text=Deflation%20Definition,in%20prices%20across%20the%20economy.https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/what-is-deflation/#:~:text=Deflation%20Definition,in%20prices%20across%20the%20economy. |access-date=2024-01-30 |work=Forbes Advisor |language=en-US}}</ref> ]{{snd}}a decrease in the rate of inflation;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Disinflation: Definition, How It Works, Triggers, and Example |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/disinflation.asp |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref> ]{{snd}}an out-of-control inflationary spiral;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hyperinflation |url=https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/economics/hyperinflation/ |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Corporate Finance Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> ]{{snd}}a combination of inflation, slow economic growth and high unemployment;<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Stagflation, What Causes It, and Why Is It Bad? |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stagflation.asp |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref> ]{{snd}}an attempt to raise the general level of prices to counteract deflationary pressures;<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Reflation? |url=https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-reflation-5210962 |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=The Balance |language=en}}</ref> and ]{{snd}}a general rise in the prices of financial assets without a corresponding increase in the prices of goods or services;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Asset-Price Inflation vs. Economic Growth |url=https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032715/what-difference-between-assetprice-inflation-and-economic-growth.asp |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref> ]{{snd}}an advanced increase in the ] and industrial agricultural crops when compared with the general rise in prices.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Agflation: What It Means, How It Works, Impact |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/agflation.asp |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref>
While "inflation" usually refers to a rise in some broad price index like the ] that indicates the overall level of prices, it is also used to refer to a rise in the prices of some specific set of goods or services, as in "]",<ref>{{cite web|url = http://capmarketline.blogspot.com/2005/11/commodities-inflation.html |title = Capital Markets & Economic Analysis: Commodities Inflation |accessdate = 2008-08-11 |date = Thursday, November 03, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2006/05/commodity_price.html |title = Econbrowser: Commodity price inflation |accessdate = 2008-08-11}}</ref> "food inflation",<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/washington/08ethanol.html?scp=1&sq=food%20inflation&st=cse |title = E.P.A. Declines to Reduce the Quota for Ethanol in Cars - NYTimes.com |accessdate = 2008-08-11 |date = Published: August 7, 2008 |author = MATTHEW L. WALD}}</ref> or "house price inflation"<ref>{{cite web|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6729323.stm |title = BBC NEWS | Business | House price inflation easing off |accessdate = 2008-08-11 |date = <span class="lu">Last Updated:}}</ref> or ] (a measure of inflation of some sub-set of the broader index, usually excluding goods with higher volatility or strong seasonality). Related economic concepts include: ], a fall in the general price level; ], a decrease in the rate of inflation; ], an out-of-control inflationary spiral; ], a combination of inflation and slow economic growth and rising unemployment; and ], which is an attempt to raise the general level of prices to counteract deflationary pressures.


More specific forms of inflation refer to sectors whose prices vary semi-independently from the general trend. "House price inflation" applies to changes in the ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=UK House Price Index: November 2021 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-house-price-index-november-2021 |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref> while "energy inflation" is dominated by the costs of oil and gas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rubene |first1=Ieva |last2=Koester |first2=Gerrit |date=2021-05-06 |title=Recent dynamics in energy inflation: the role of base effects and taxes|journal=ECB Economic Bulletin |issue=3 |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/economic-bulletin/focus/2021/html/ecb.ebbox202103_04~0a0c8f0814.en.html |language=en}}</ref>
==Measures of inflation==
]
Inflation is measured by calculating the ], which means the percentage rate of change of a price index, such as the ].<ref>Robert Hall and John Taylor (1986), ''Macroeconomics: Theory, Performance, and Policy'', page 5. ISBN 039395398X.</ref><ref>Blanchard (2000), ''op. cit.''</ref><ref>Barro (1993), ''op. cit.''</ref>
For example, in January 2007, the U.S. ] was 202.416, and in January 2008 it was 211.080. Therefore, using these numbers, we can calculate that the annual percentage rate of CPI inflation over the course of 2007 was
:<math>100 \left(\frac{211.080-202.416}{202.416}\right)=4.28%</math>
That is, the general level of prices for typical U.S. consumers rose by approximately four per cent in 2007.<ref>The numbers reported here refer to the US Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, All Items, series CPIAUCNS, from base level 100 in base year 1982. They were downloaded from the at the ] on August 8, 2008.</ref>


==History==
Price indices include the following.
]
*''']''' (CPI) which measure the price of a selection of goods and services purchased by a "typical consumer."
*''']''' (COLI) are indices similar to the CPI which are often used to adjust fixed incomes and contractual incomes to maintain the ] of those incomes.
*''']''' (PPIs) which measures average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output. This differs from the CPI in that price subsidization, profits, and taxes may cause the amount received by the producer to differ from what the consumer paid. There is also typically a delay between an increase in the PPI and any eventual increase in the CPI. Producer price index measures the pressure being put on producers by the costs of their raw materials. This could be "passed on" to consumers, or it could be absorbed by profits, or offset by increasing productivity. In ] and the ], an earlier version of the PPI was called the ''']'''.
*''']''', which measure the price of a selection of commodities. In the present commodity price indices are weighted by the relative importance of the components to the "all in" cost of an employee.
*The ''']''' is a measure of the price of all the goods and services included in ] (GDP). The US Commerce Department publishes a deflator series for US GDP, defined as its nominal GDP measure divided by its real GDP measure.
*''']''' Because food and oil prices change quickly due to changes in supply and demand conditions in the food and oil markets, it can be difficult to detect the long run trend in price levels when looking at those prices. Therefore most national statistical agencies also report a measure of 'core inflation', which removes the most volatile components (such as food and oil) from a wider price index like the CPI. Since core inflation is less affected by short run supply and demand conditions in specific markets, it helps ]s better measure the inflationary impact of current ].
*'''Regional inflation''' The Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks down CPI-U calculations down to different regions of the US.
*'''Historical inflation''' Before collecting consistent econometric data became standard for governments, and for the purpose of comparing absolute, rather than relative standards of living, various economists have calculated imputed inflation figures. Most inflation data before the early 20th century is imputed based on the known costs of goods, rather than compiled at the time. It is also used to adjust for the differences in real standard of living for the presence of technology.
*''']''' An undue increase in the prices of real or financial assets, such as ] (equity) and ], can be called 'asset price inflation'.
While there is no widely-accepted index of this type, some central bankers have suggested that it would be better to aim at stabilizing a wider general price level inflation measure that includes some asset prices, instead of stabilizing CPI or core inflation only. The reason is that by raising interest rates when stock prices or real estate prices rise, and lowering them when these asset prices fall, central banks might be more successful in avoiding ] and crashes in asset prices.


===Overview===
===Issues in measuring inflation===
Measuring inflation requires finding objective ways of separating out changes in nominal prices from other influences related to real activity. In the simplest possible case, if the price of a 10&nbsp;oz. can of corn changes from $0.90 to $1.00 over the course of a year, with no change in quality, then this price change represents inflation. This single price change does not, however, demonstrate how overall cost of living changes, and instead of looking at the change in price of one good, the price of a large "basket" of goods and services is measured. This is the purpose of looking at a ], which is a weighted average of many prices. The weights in the ], for example, represent the fraction of spending that typical consumers spend on each type of goods (using data collected by surveying households).


Inflation has been a feature of history during the entire period when money has been used as a means of payment. One of the earliest documented inflations occurred in ]'s empire 330 ].<ref name=parkin>{{cite journal |last1=Parkin |first1=Michael |title=Inflation |journal=The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics |date=2008 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_888-2|isbn=978-1-349-95121-5 }}</ref> Historically, when ] was used, periods of inflation and deflation would alternate depending on the condition of the economy. However, when large, prolonged infusions of gold or silver into an economy occurred, this could lead to long periods of inflation.
Inflation measures are often modified over time, either for the relative weight of goods in the basket, or in the way in which goods from the present are compared with goods from the past. This includes hedonic adjustments and "reweighting" as well as using chained measures of inflation. These adjustments are necessary because the type of goods purchased by 'typical consumers' changes over time, and the quality of some types of goods may change, and new types of goods may be invented.


The adoption of ] by many countries, from the 18th century onwards, made much larger variations in the supply of money possible.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fiat Money: What It Is, How It Works, Example, Pros & Cons |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref> Rapid increases in the ] have taken place a number of times in countries experiencing political crises, producing ]s{{snd}}episodes of extreme inflation rates much higher than those observed in earlier periods of ]. The ] of Germany is a notable example. The ] in Venezuela is the highest in the world, with an annual inflation rate of 833,997% as of October 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Corina |first1=Pons |last2=Luc |first2=Cohen |last3=O'Brien |first3=Rosalba |title=Venezuela's annual inflation hit 833,997 percent in October: Congress |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy/venezuelas-annual-inflation-hit-833997-percent-in-october-congress-idUSKCN1NC2F9 |access-date=9 November 2018 |work=Reuters |date=7 November 2018 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212194638/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy/venezuelas-annual-inflation-hit-833997-percent-in-october-congress-idUSKCN1NC2F9 |url-status=live }}</ref>
As with many economic numbers, inflation numbers are often ] in order to differentiate expected cyclical cost increases, versus changes in the economy. Inflation numbers are averaged or otherwise subjected to statistical techniques in order to remove ] and ] of individual prices. Finally, when looking at inflation, economic institutions sometimes only look at subsets or ''special indices''. One common set is inflation excluding food and energy, which is often called "]".


Historically, inflations of varying magnitudes have occurred, interspersed with corresponding deflationary periods,<ref name=parkin/> from the ] of the 16th century, which was driven by the flood of gold and particularly silver seized and mined by the Spaniards in Latin America, to the largest paper money inflation of all time in Hungary after World War II.<ref name=PeterB>{{cite book |last=Bernholz |first=Peter |url=https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781784717629.00007.xml |title=Introduction |year=2015 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-78471-763-6 |language=en-US |access-date=June 9, 2022 |archive-date=June 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618191304/https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781784717629.00007.xml |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Effects of inflation==
An increase in the general level of prices implies a decrease in the real value of money. That is, when the general level of prices rises, each monetary unit buys fewer goods and services.<ref>N. Gregory Mankiw, (2004), ''Principles of Economics'', 3rd edition, International Student Edition. Chapter 30, page 659. ISBN 0324203098.</ref>


However, since the 1980s, inflation has been held low and stable in countries with independent ]s. This has led to a moderation of the ] and a reduction in variation in most macroeconomic indicators{{snd}}an event known as the ].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/article1294376.ece |title=Welcome to 'the Great Moderation' |first=Gerard |last=Baker |work=The Times |date=2007-01-19 |publisher=Times Newspapers |location=London |issn=0140-0460 |access-date=15 April 2011 |archive-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214175030/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In general, high or unpredictable inflation rates are regarded as bad for following reasons:
*''Uncertainty'' about future inflation may discourage investment and saving.
*''Redistribution'' - Inflation redistributes income from those on fixed incomes, such as pensioners, and shifts it to those who draw a variable income, for example from wages and current profits which may keep pace with inflation. The real value of retained profits is destroyed at the rate of inflation as the historical cost balances stay fixed like pensioners´ fixed income. However, debtors may be helped by inflation due to reduction of the real value of debt burden.
*''Implicit taxation'' - A particular form of inflation as a tax is ''Bracket Creep'' (also called '']''). By allowing inflation to move upwards, certain sticky aspects of the tax code are met by more and more people. For example, income tax brackets, where the next dollar of income is taxed at a higher rate than previous dollars, tend to become distorted. Governments that allow inflation to "bump" people over these thresholds are, in effect, allowing a tax increase because the same real purchasing power is being taxed at a higher rate.
*''International trade'': Where fixed ]s are imposed, higher inflation than in trading partners' economies will make exports more expensive and tend toward a weakening ]. A sustained higher level of inflation than in the trading partners' economies will also, over the long run, put upward pressure on the implicit exchange rate (what the exchange rate would be if left to be decided in the market) making the fix unsustainable and potentially inviting a an exchange rate crisis.
*''Cost-push inflation'': Rising inflation can prompt trade unions to demand higher wages, to keep up with consumer prices. Rising wages in turn can help fuel inflation. In the case of collective bargaining, wages will be set as a factor of price expectations, which will be higher when inflation has an upward trend. This can cause a ].{{Fact|date=August 2007}} In a sense, inflation begets further inflationary expectations.
*''Hoarding'': people buy consumer durables as stores of wealth in the absence of viable alternatives as a means of getting rid of excess cash before it is devalued, creating shortages of the hoarded objects.
*'']'': if inflation gets totally out of control (in the upward direction), it can grossly interfere with the normal workings of the economy, hurting its ability to supply.
*'']'': High inflation increases the opportunity cost of holding cash balances and can induce people to hold a greater portion of their assets in interest paying accounts. However, since cash is still needed in order to carry out transactions this means that more "trips to the bank" are necessary in order to make withdrawals, proverbially wearing out the "shoe leather" with each trip.
*'']'': With high inflation, firms must change their prices often in order to keep up with economy wide changes. But often changing prices is itself a costly activity whether explicitly, as with the need to print new menus, or implicitly.
*'']'' view: according to this view inflation sets off the business cycle (''see'' ]) and hold this to be the most damaging effect of inflation as artificially low interests rates and the associated increase in the ] lead to reckless, speculative borrowing, resulting in clusters of malinvestments, which eventually have to be liquidated as they become unsustainable.<ref>Thorsten Polleit, "", Mises Institute</ref>


{{multiple image
Some possibly positive effects of (moderate) inflation include:
| align = right
*''Labor Market Adjustments'': Keynesians believe that nominal wages are slow to adjust downwards. This can lead to prolonged disequilibrium and high unemployment in the labor market. Since inflation would lower the real wage if nominal wages are kept constant, Keynesian argue that some inflation is good for the economy, as it would allow labor markets to reach equilibrium faster.
| direction = vertical
*''Room to maneuver'': The primary tools for controlling the money supply are the ability to set the discount rate, the rate at which banks can borrow from the central bank, and ] which are the central bank's interventions into the bonds market with the aim of affecting the nominal interest rate. If an economy finds itself in a recession with already low, or even zero, nominal interest rates, then the bank cannot cut these rates further (since negative nominal interest rates are impossible) in order to stimulate the economy - this situation is known as a ]. A moderate level of inflation tends to ensure that nominal interest rates stay sufficiently above zero so that if the need arises the bank can cut the nominal interest rate.
| width = 350
*''Tobin effect'': The ] winning economist ] at one point had argued that a moderate level of inflation can increase investment in an economy leading to faster growth or at least higher steady state level of income. This is due to the fact that inflation lowers the return on monetary assets relative to real assets, such as physical capital. To avoid inflation, investors would switch from holding their assets as money (or a similar, susceptible to inflation, form) to investing in real capital projects. ''See'' ] (Econometrica, V 33, 1965 "Money and Economic Growth").
| header =
| image1 =
Fineness_of_early_Roman_Imperial_silver_coins.png
| caption1 = Silver purity through time in early Roman imperial silver coins. To increase the number of silver coins in circulation while short on silver, the Roman imperial government repeatedly ] the coins. They melted relatively pure silver coins and then struck new silver coins of lower purity but of nominally equal value. Silver coins were relatively pure before Nero (AD 54–68), but by the 270s had hardly any silver left.
| image2 = Decline_of_the_antoninianus.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = The silver content of Roman silver coins rapidly declined during the ].
}}


===Ancient Europe===
==Causes of inflation==
In the long run inflation is generally believed to be a monetary phenomenon while in the short and medium term it is influenced by the relative elasticity of wages, prices and interest rates.<ref>''</ref> The question of whether the short-term effects last long enough to be important is the central topic of debate between monetarist and Keynesian schools. In ] prices and wages adjust quickly enough to make other factors merely marginal behavior on a general trendline. In the ] view, prices and wages adjust at different rates, and these differences have enough effects on real output to be "long term" in the view of people in an economy.


Alexander the Great's conquest of the ] in 330 BCE was followed by one of the earliest documented inflation periods in the ancient world.<ref name=parkin/> Rapid increases in the quantity of money or in the overall ] have occurred in many different societies throughout history, changing with different forms of money used.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dobson |first=Roger |title=How Alexander caused a great Babylon inflation |newspaper=] |date=January 27, 2002 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/how-alexander-caused-a-great-babylon-inflation-671072.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515070120/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/how-alexander-caused-a-great-babylon-inflation-671072.html |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |access-date=April 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Harl | first = Kenneth W. | author-link = Kenneth W. Harl | title = Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 | place = ] | publisher = ] | year=1996 | isbn = 0-8018-5291-9 }}</ref> For instance, when silver was used as currency, the government could collect silver coins, melt them down, mix them with other, less valuable metals such as copper or lead and reissue them at the same ], a process known as ]. At the ascent of ] as Roman emperor in AD 54, the ] contained more than 90% silver, but by the 270s hardly any silver was left. By diluting the silver with other metals, the government could issue more coins without increasing the amount of silver used to make them. When the cost of each coin is lowered in this way, the government profits from an increase in ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mint.ca/royalcanadianmintpublic/RcmImageLibrary.aspx?filename=RCM_AR06_E.pdf |title=Annual Report (2006), Royal Canadian Mint, p. 4 |publisher=Mint.ca |access-date=May 21, 2011 |archive-date=December 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217200449/http://www.mint.ca/royalcanadianmintpublic/RcmImageLibrary.aspx?filename=RCM_AR06_E.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This practice would increase the money supply but at the same time the relative value of each coin would be lowered. As the relative value of the coins becomes lower, consumers would need to give more coins in exchange for the same goods and services as before. These goods and services would experience a price increase as the value of each coin is reduced.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shostak |first=Frank |date=2008-06-16 |title=Commodity Prices and Inflation: What's the Connection? |url=https://mises.org/library/commodity-prices-and-inflation-whats-connection |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=Mises Institute |language=en}}</ref> Again at the end of the third century CE during the reign of ], the ] experienced rapid inflation.<ref name=parkin/>
A great deal of economic literature concerns the question of what causes inflation and what effect it has. There are different schools of thought as to what causes inflation. Most can be divided into two broad areas: quality theories of inflation, and quantity theories of inflation. Many theories of inflation combine the two. The quality theory of inflation rests on the expectation of a seller accepting currency to be able to exchange that currency at a later time for goods that are desirable as a buyer. The quantity theory of inflation rests on the equation of the money supply, its velocity, and exchanges. ] and ] proposed a quantity theory of inflation for money, and a quality theory of inflation for production.


===Keynesian view=== ===Ancient China===
] China introduced the practice of printing paper money to create ].<ref name="Glahn">{{cite book |author=von Glahn |first=Richard |title=Fountain of Fortune: Money and Monetary Policy in China, 1000–1700 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20408-9 |page=48}}</ref> During the Mongol ], the government spent a great deal of money fighting ], and reacted by printing more money, leading to inflation.<ref name="Ropp2010">{{cite book |author=Ropp |first=Paul S. |title=China in World History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-517073-3 |pages=82}}</ref> Fearing the inflation that plagued the Yuan dynasty, the ] initially rejected the use of paper money, and reverted to using copper coins.<ref name="Bernholz">{{cite book |author=Bernholz |first=Peter |title=Monetary Regimes and Inflation: History, Economic and Political Relationships |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-84376-155-6 |pages=53–55}}</ref>


===Medieval Egypt===
] economic theory proposes that money is transparent to real forces in the economy, and that visible inflation is the result of pressures in the economy expressing themselves in prices.
During the ] king ]'s ] to ] in 1324, he was reportedly accompanied by a ] that included thousands of people and nearly a hundred camels. When he passed through ], he spent or gave away so much gold that it depressed its price in Egypt for over a decade,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-05-24 |title=Mansa Musa |url=http://www.blackhistorypages.net/pages/mansamusa.php |access-date=2023-11-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524015912/http://www.blackhistorypages.net/pages/mansamusa.php |archive-date=May 24, 2006 }}</ref> reducing its purchasing power. A contemporary Arab historian remarked about Mansa Musa's visit:


{{blockquote|Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came in that year. The ] did not go below 25 ]s and was generally above, but from that time its value fell and it cheapened in price and has remained cheap till now. The mithqal does not exceed 22 dirhams or less. This has been the state of affairs for about twelve years until this day by reason of the large amount of gold which they brought into Egypt and spent there .|sign=]|source=Kingdom of Mali<ref>{{cite web |title=Kingdom of Mali&nbsp;– Primary Source Documents |url=http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/resources/k_o_mali/ |website=African studies Center |publisher=] |access-date=30 January 2012 |archive-date=November 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124051633/http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/resources/k_o_mali/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
There are three major types of inflation, as part of what ] calls the "''']'''":<ref>Robert J. Gordon (1988), ''Macroeconomics: Theory and Policy'', 2nd ed., Chap. 22.4, 'Modern theories of inflation'. McGraw-Hill.</ref>
*''']''': inflation caused by increases in aggregate demand due to increased private and government spending, etc. Demand inflation is constructive to a faster rate of economic growth since the excess demand and favourable market conditions will stimulate investment and expansion.
*''']''': also called "supply shock inflation," caused by drops in aggregate supply due to increased prices of inputs, for example. Take for instance a sudden decrease in the supply of oil, which would increase oil prices. Producers for whom oil is a part of their costs could then pass this on to consumers in the form of increased prices.
*''']''': induced by ], often linked to the "]" because it involves workers trying to keep their wages up (gross wages have to increase above the CPI rate to net to CPI after-tax) with prices and then employers passing higher costs on to consumers as higher prices as part of a "vicious circle." Built-in inflation reflects events in the past, and so might be seen as ].


=== Medieval age and "price revolution" in Western Europe===
A major demand-pull theory centers on the supply of money: inflation may be caused by an increase in the quantity of ] in circulation relative to the ability of the economy to supply (its ]). This is most obvious when governments finance spending in a crisis, such as a civil war, by printing money excessively, often leading to ], a condition where prices can double in a month or less. Another cause can be a rapid decline in the ''demand'' for money, as happened in Europe during the ].


There is no reliable evidence of inflation in Europe for the thousand years that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, but from the ] onwards reliable data do exist. Mostly, the medieval inflation episodes were modest, and there was a tendency that inflationary periods were followed by deflationary periods.<ref name=parkin/>
The ] is also thought to play a major role in determining moderate levels of inflation, although there are differences of opinion on how important it is. For example, ] economists believe that the link is very strong; ], by contrast, typically emphasize the role of ] in the economy rather than the money supply in determining inflation. That is, for Keynesians the money supply is only one determinant of aggregate demand. Some economists consider this a 'hocus pocus' approach: They disagree with the notion that central banks control the money supply, arguing that central banks have little control because the money supply adapts to the demand for bank credit issued by commercial banks. This is the '''theory of endogenous money'''. Advocated strongly by post-Keynesians as far back as the 1960s, it has today become a central focus of ] advocates. This position is not universally accepted: banks create money by making loans, but the aggregate volume of these loans diminishes as real interest rates increase. Thus, central banks influence the money supply by making money cheaper or more expensive, and thus increasing or decreasing its production.


From the second half of the 15th century to the first half of the 17th, Western Europe experienced a major inflationary cycle referred to as the "]",<ref>], ''American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501–1650'' Harvard Economic Studies, p. 43 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: ], 1934).</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/ecipa/archive/UT-ECIPA-MUNRO-99-02.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306002320/http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/ecipa/archive/UT-ECIPA-MUNRO-99-02.pdf |url-status=dead |title=John Munro: ''The Monetary Origins of the 'Price Revolution':South Germany Silver Mining, Merchant Banking, and Venetian Commerce, 1470–1540'', Toronto 2003|archive-date=March 6, 2009}}</ref> with prices on average rising perhaps sixfold over 150 years. This is often attributed to the influx of gold and silver from the ] into ],<ref>{{cite book |author=Walton |first=Timothy R. |title=The Spanish Treasure Fleets |publisher=Pineapple Press |year=1994 |isbn=1-56164-049-2 |location=Florida, US |page=85 |language=en-us}}</ref> with wider availability of ] in previously ] causing widespread inflation.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/bsl/wpaper/2007-12.html|title=The Price Revolution in the 16th Century: Empirical Results from a Structural Vectorautoregression Model|first1=Peter|last1=Bernholz|first2=Peter|last2=Kugler|journal=Working Papers|date=August 1, 2007|via=ideas.repec.org|access-date=March 31, 2015|archive-date=April 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425223334/https://ideas.repec.org/p/bsl/wpaper/2007-12.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Tracy, James D. |title=Handbook of European History 1400–1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |location=Boston |year= 1994|page=655 |isbn=90-04-09762-7}}</ref> European population rebound from the ] began before the arrival of New World metal, and may have begun a process of inflation that New World silver compounded later in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |author=Fischer |first=David Hackett |title=The Great Wave |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-19-512121-X |page=81 |language=en-uk}}</ref>
A fundamental concept in inflation analysis is the relationship between inflation and ], called the ]. This model suggests that there is a ] between price stability and employment. Therefore, some level of inflation could be considered desirable in order to minimize unemployment. The Phillips curve model described the U.S. experience well in the 1960s but failed to describe the combination of rising inflation and economic stagnation (sometimes referred to as '']'') experienced in the 1970s.


===After 1700===
Thus, modern macroeconomics describes inflation using a Phillips curve that ''shifts'' (so the trade-off between inflation and unemployment changes) because of such matters as supply shocks and inflation becoming built into the normal workings of the economy. The former refers to such events as the oil shocks of the 1970s, while the latter refers to the ] and ] implying that the economy "normally" suffers from inflation. Thus, the Phillips curve represents only the ] component of the triangle model.


A pattern of intermittent inflation and deflation periods persisted for centuries until the ] in the 1930s, which was characterized by major deflation. Since the Great Depression, however, there has been a general tendency for prices to rise every year. In the 1970s and early 1980s, annual inflation in most industrialized countries reached two digits (ten percent or more). The double-digit inflation era was of short duration, however, inflation by the mid-1980s returned to more modest levels. Amid this, general trends there have been spectacular high-inflation episodes in individual countries in ], towards the end of the ] in 1948–1949, and later in some Latin American countries, in Israel, and in Zimbabwe. Some of these episodes are considered ] periods, normally designating inflation rates that surpass 50 percent monthly.<ref name=parkin/>
Another concept of note is the ] (sometimes called the "]"), a level of ], where the economy is at its optimal level of production given institutional and natural constraints. (This level of output corresponds to the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment, ], or the "natural" rate of unemployment or the full-employment unemployment rate.) If GDP exceeds its potential (and unemployment is below the NAIRU), the theory says that inflation will ''accelerate'' as suppliers increase their prices and built-in inflation worsens. If GDP falls below its potential level (and unemployment is above the NAIRU), inflation will ''decelerate'' as suppliers attempt to fill excess capacity, cutting prices and undermining built-in inflation.


== Measures ==
However, one problem with this theory for policy-making purposes is that the exact level of potential output (and of the NAIRU) is generally unknown and tends to change over time. Inflation also seems to act in an asymmetric way, rising more quickly than it falls. Worse, it can change because of policy: for example, high unemployment under British Prime Minister ] might have led to a rise in the NAIRU (and a fall in potential) because many of the unemployed found themselves as ] (also see ]), unable to find jobs that fit their skills. A rise in structural unemployment implies that a smaller percentage of the labor force can find jobs at the NAIRU, where the economy avoids crossing the threshold into the realm of accelerating inflation.
{{see also|Consumer price index}}
] is a ], CPI and PCE ]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.yahoo.com/now/does-producer-price-index-tell-190327824.html | title=What Does the Producer Price Index Tell You? | date=June 3, 2021 | access-date=October 1, 2022 | archive-date=December 25, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225183858/https://www.yahoo.com/now/does-producer-price-index-tell-190327824.html | url-status=live }}</ref>
{{legend-line|#00A2FF solid 3px|]}}
{{legend-line|#61D836 solid 3px|Core PPI}}
{{legend-line|#929292 solid 3px|]}}
{{legend-line|#F8BA00 solid 3px|] CPI}}
{{legend-line|#FF2600 solid 3px|]}}
{{legend-line|#D41876 solid 3px|Core PCE}}]]
Given that there are many possible measures of the price level, there are many possible measures of price inflation. Most frequently, the term "inflation" refers to a rise in a broad price index representing the overall price level for goods and services in the economy. The ] (CPI), the ] (PCEPI) and the ] are some examples of broad price indices. However, "inflation" may also be used to describe a rising price level within a narrower set of assets, goods or services within the economy, such as ] (including food, fuel, metals), ]s (such as real estate), services (such as entertainment and health care), or ]. Although the values of capital assets are often casually said to "inflate," this should not be confused with inflation as a defined term; a more accurate description for an increase in the value of a capital asset is appreciation. The FBI (CCI), the ], and ] (ECI) are examples of narrow price indices used to measure price inflation in particular sectors of the economy. ] is a measure of inflation for a subset of consumer prices that excludes food and energy prices, which rise and fall more than other prices in the short term. The ] pays particular attention to the core inflation rate to get a better estimate of long-term future inflation trends overall.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kiley |first=Michael J. |title=Estimating the common trend rate of inflation for consumer prices and consumer prices excluding food and energy prices |series=Finance and Economic Discussion Series |publisher=Federal Reserve Board |date=July 2008|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2008/200838/200838pap.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2008/200838/200838pap.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date= May 13, 2015 }}</ref>


The inflation rate is most widely calculated by determining the movement or change in a price index, typically the ].<ref>''See:''
===Monetarist view===
* {{harvnb|Hall|Taylor|1993}};
Monetarists assert that the empirical study of monetary history shows that inflation has always been a monetary phenomenon. The ], simply stated, says that the total amount of spending in an economy is primarily determined by the total amount of money in existence. This theory begins with the identity:
* {{harvnb|Blanchard|2021}};
The consumer price index measures movements in prices of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by a "typical consumer".</ref>


The inflation rate is the percentage change of a price index over time. The ] is also a measure of inflation that is commonly used in the United Kingdom. It is broader than the CPI and contains a larger basket of goods and services. Inflation is politically driven, and policy can directly influence the trend of inflation.
:<math>M \cdot V = P \cdot Q</math>

The RPI is indicative of the experiences of a wide range of household types, particularly low-income households.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carruthers |first1=A. G. |last2=Sellwood |first2=D. J. |last3=Ward |first3=P. W. |date=1980 |title=Recent Developments in the Retail Prices Index |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2987492 |journal=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series D (The Statistician) |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |doi=10.2307/2987492 |jstor=2987492 |issn=0039-0526 |access-date=June 9, 2022 |archive-date=June 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609045128/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2987492 |url-status=live }}</ref>

To illustrate the method of calculation, in January 2007, the U.S. Consumer Price Index was 202.416, and in January 2008 it was 211.080. The formula for calculating the annual percentage rate inflation in the CPI over the course of the year is: <math>\left(\frac{211.080-202.416}{202.416}\right)\times100\%=4.28\%</math>

The resulting inflation rate for the CPI in this one-year period is 4.28%, meaning the general level of prices for typical U.S. consumers rose by approximately four percent in 2007.<ref>The numbers reported here refer to the US Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, All Items, series CPIAUCNS, from base level 100 in base year 1982. They were downloaded from the FRED database at the ] on August 8, 2008.</ref>

Other widely used price indices for calculating price inflation include the following:
* ''']''' (PPIs) which measures average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output. This differs from the CPI in that price subsidization, profits, and taxes may cause the amount received by the producer to differ from what the consumer paid. There is also typically a delay between an increase in the PPI and any eventual increase in the CPI. Producer price index measures the pressure being put on producers by the costs of their raw materials. This could be "passed on" to consumers, or it could be absorbed by profits, or offset by increasing productivity. In India and the United States, an earlier version of the PPI was called the ].
* ''']''', which measure the price of a selection of commodities. In the present commodity price indices are weighted by the relative importance of the components to the "all in" cost of an employee.
* ''']''': because food and oil prices can change quickly due to changes in ] conditions in the food and oil markets, it can be difficult to detect the long run trend in price levels when those prices are included. Therefore, most ] also report a measure of 'core inflation', which removes the most volatile components (such as food and oil) from a broad price index like the CPI. Because core inflation is less affected by short run supply and demand conditions in specific markets, ]s rely on it to better measure the inflationary effect of current ].

Other common measures of inflation are:
* ''']''' is a measure of the price of all the goods and services included in gross domestic product (GDP). The ] publishes a deflator series for US GDP, defined as its nominal GDP measure divided by its real GDP measure.

∴ <math>\mbox{GDP Deflator} = \frac{\mbox{Nominal GDP}}{\mbox{Real GDP}}</math>
* '''Regional inflation''' The Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks down CPI-U calculations down to different regions of the US.
* '''Historical inflation''' Before collecting consistent econometric data became standard for governments, and for the purpose of comparing absolute, rather than relative standards of living, various economists have calculated imputed inflation figures. Most inflation data before the early 20th century is imputed based on the known costs of goods, rather than compiled at the time. It is also used to adjust for the differences in real standard of living for the presence of technology.
* ''']''' is an undue increase in the prices of real assets, such as real estate.
In some cases, the measures are meant to be more humorous or to reflect a single place. This includes:

* The ], which calculates the cost of the items mentioned in a song, "].<ref name="Olson">{{Cite news |last=Olson |first=Elizabeth |date=December 20, 2007 |title=The '12 Days' Index Shows a Record Increase |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/25/business/the-12-days-index-shows-a-record-increase-704075.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes+Topics%2FSubjects%2FG%2FGifts |work=]}}</ref>
* The ], which compares prices across countries.<ref>{{cite news |date=9 April 1998 |title=Big MacCurrencies |url=http://www.economist.com/node/159859 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227100228/http://www.economist.com/node/159859 |archive-date=27 December 2017 |access-date=27 November 2013 |newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>
* The ], which calculates the price of food needed to make a ], a popular African dish.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Erezi |first=Dennis |date=2022-04-28 |title=Jollof Index, Chicken Republic, inflation and changing food consumption patterns |url=https://guardian.ng/features/jollof-index-chicken-republic-inflation-and-changing-food-consumption-patterns/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News |language=en-US}}</ref>
* The ], which calculates the price of food needed to cook one soup and two other dishes for a small family in Hong Kong.
* The ], which calculates the price of housing in a fashionable neighborhood of ].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eichholtz |first=Piet M. A. |date=1996 |title=A Long Run House Price Index: The Herengracht Index, 1628-1973 |url=http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=598 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.598 |issn=1556-5068}}</ref>
* The ], which claimed that when the economy got worse, small luxury sales, such as ], would go up.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 January 2009 |title=Lip service: What lipstick sales tell you about the economy |url=https://www.economist.com/unknown/2009/01/23/lip-service |access-date=2024-06-10 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

=== Issues in measuring ===

Measuring inflation in an economy requires objective means of differentiating changes in nominal prices on a common set of goods and services, and distinguishing them from those price shifts resulting from changes in value such as volume, quality, or performance. For example, if the price of a can of corn changes from $0.90 to $1.00 over the course of a year, with no change in quality, then this price difference represents inflation. This single price change would not, however, represent general inflation in an overall economy. Overall inflation is measured as the price change of a large "basket" of representative goods and services. This is the purpose of a ], which is the combined price of a "basket" of many goods and services. The combined price is the sum of the weighted prices of items in the "basket". A weighted price is calculated by multiplying the ] of an item by the number of that item the average consumer purchases. Weighted pricing is necessary to measure the effect of individual unit price changes on the economy's overall inflation. The ], for example, uses data collected by surveying households to determine what proportion of the typical consumer's overall spending is spent on specific goods and services, and weights the average prices of those items accordingly. Those weighted average prices are combined to calculate the overall price. To better relate price changes over time, indexes typically choose a "base year" price and assign it a value of 100. Index prices in subsequent years are then expressed in relation to the base year price.<ref name=Taylor>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Timothy |title=Principles of Economics |publisher=Freeload Press |date=2008 |isbn=978-1-930789-05-0}}</ref> While comparing inflation measures for various periods one has to take into consideration the ] as well.

Inflation measures are often modified over time, either for the relative weight of goods in the basket, or in the way in which goods and services from the present are compared with goods and services from the past. Basket weights are updated regularly, usually every year, to adapt to changes in consumer behavior. Sudden changes in consumer behavior can still introduce a weighting bias in inflation measurement. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic it has been shown that the basket of goods and services was no longer representative of consumption during the crisis, as numerous goods and services could no longer be consumed due to government containment measures ("lock-downs").<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benchimol |first1=Jonathan |last2=Caspi |first2=Itamar |last3=Levin |first3=Yuval |date=2022 |title=The COVID-19 Inflation Weighting in Israel |journal=The Economists' Voice |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=5–14 |doi=10.1515/ev-2021-0023 |s2cid=245497122 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Seiler|first=Pascal|date=2020-09-16|title=Weighting bias and inflation in the time of COVID-19: evidence from Swiss transaction data|journal=]|volume=156|issue=1|pages=13|doi=10.1186/s41937-020-00057-7|issn=2235-6282|pmc=7493696|pmid=32959014 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Over time, adjustments are also made to the type of goods and services selected to reflect changes in the sorts of goods and services purchased by 'typical consumers'. New products may be introduced, older products disappear, the quality of existing products may change, and consumer preferences can shift. Different segments of the population may naturally consume different "baskets" of goods and services and may even experience different inflation rates. It is argued that companies have put more innovation into bringing down prices for wealthy families than for poor families.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Botella |first1=Elena |title=That "Inflation Inequality" Report Has a Major Problem |url=https://slate.com/business/2019/11/inflation-inequality-not-about-beer-lettuce.html |access-date=11 November 2019 |work=] |date=8 November 2019 |archive-date=November 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130071656/https://slate.com/business/2019/11/inflation-inequality-not-about-beer-lettuce.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Inflation numbers are often ] to differentiate expected cyclical cost shifts. For example, home heating costs are expected to rise in colder months, and seasonal adjustments are often used when measuring inflation to compensate for cyclical energy or fuel demand spikes. Inflation numbers may be averaged or otherwise subjected to statistical techniques to remove ] and ] of individual prices.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vavra |first1=Joseph |date=2014 |title=Inflation Dynamics and Time-Varying Volatility: New Evidence and an SS Interpretation |url=https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/129/1/215/1897034 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=129 |issue=1 |pages=215–258 |doi= 10.1093/qje/qjt027 |access-date=2023-03-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arlt |first=Josef |date=11 March 2021 |title=The problem of annual inflation rate indicator |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijfe.2563 |journal=International Journal of Finance & Economics |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=2772–2788|doi=10.1002/ijfe.2563 |s2cid=233675877 }}</ref>

When looking at inflation, economic institutions may focus only on certain kinds of prices, or ''special indices'', such as the ] index which is used by central banks to formulate ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/coreinflation.asp|title=Why Core Inflation is Important|last=Kenton|first=Will|website=Investopedia|language=en|access-date=2020-01-17|archive-date=December 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214063705/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/coreinflation.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

Most inflation indices are calculated from weighted averages of selected price changes. This necessarily introduces distortion, and can lead to legitimate disputes about what the true inflation rate is. This problem can be overcome by including all available price changes in the calculation, and then choosing the ] value.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/commentary/1991/1201.pdf |title=Median Price Changes: An Alternative Approach to Measuring Current Monetary Inflation |access-date=May 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515145028/http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/commentary/1991/1201.pdf |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In some other cases, governments may intentionally report false inflation rates; for instance, during the presidency of ] (2007–2015) the ] was criticised for manipulating economic data, such as inflation and GDP figures, for political gain and to reduce payments on its inflation-indexed debt.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-argentina-idUSBRE91019920130202 |title=IMF reprimands Argentina for inaccurate economic data |newspaper=Reuters |date=February 2, 2013 |access-date=February 2, 2013 |last1=Wroughton |first1=Lesley |archive-date=August 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804134926/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-argentina-idUSBRE91019920130202 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-01/argentina-becomes-first-nation-censured-by-imf-on-inflation-data.html |title=Argentina Becomes First Nation Censured by IMF on Economic Data |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=February 2, 2013 |access-date=February 2, 2013 |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310235820/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-01/argentina-becomes-first-nation-censured-by-imf-on-inflation-data.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Official vs. true vs. perceived inflation ===
The true inflation is one percentage point lower than the official one, according to research. Therefore, the 2% inflation target is needed to prevent the true inflation being close to zero or even deflation. The reasons are the following:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cals.ncsu.edu/news/you-decide-why-stop-at-an-inflation-rate-of-2/|title=You Decide: Why Stop at an Inflation Rate Target of 2%?|date=January 29, 2023|website=CALS News|publisher=NC State University}}</ref>
* '''Substitution effect''': People buy fewer products with the highest price rises and more of those whose prices have risen less. Therefore, the price of their non-fixed shopping basket rises less than that of a fixed shopping basket.
* '''Unobserved quality improvements''': Even though statisticians try to take quality improvements into account, they are not able to do it fully. This is why people rather buy current products at the higher prices than old products at their old prices.
* '''New goods''': The current shopping basket is much better, because it has goods that you previously could not even dream of.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dummies.com/article/business-careers-money/business/economics/inflation-usually-overestimated-228118/|title=Why Inflation Is Usually Overestimated|author=Dan Richards|author2=Manzur Rashid|author3=Peter Antonioni|date=November 1, 2016|publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref>

Nevertheless, people overestimate the inflation even vs. the measured inflation. This is because they focus more on commonly-bought items than on durable goods, and more on price increases than on price decreases.<ref name=SC>{{cite web|date=January 19, 2022 |publisher=Statistics Canada |title=The naked eye versus the CPI: How does our perception of inflation stack up against the data? |url=https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/256-naked-eye-versus-cpi-how-does-our-perception-inflation-stack-against-data}}<!-- auto-translated from Finnish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

On the other hand, different people have different shopping baskets and hence face different inflation rates.<ref name=SC/>

===Inflation expectations===

Inflation expectations or expected inflation is the rate of inflation that is anticipated for some time in the foreseeable future. There are two major approaches to modeling the formation of inflation expectations. ] models them as a weighted average of what was expected one period earlier and the actual rate of inflation that most recently occurred. ] models them as unbiased, in the sense that the expected inflation rate is not systematically above or systematically below the inflation rate that actually occurs.

A long-standing survey of inflation expectations is the University of Michigan survey.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MICH|title=University of Michigan: Inflation Expectation|date=January 1978|publisher=Economic Research, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis|access-date=March 9, 2017|archive-date=November 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107075130/https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MICH|url-status=live}}</ref>

Inflation expectations affect the economy in several ways. They are more or less built into ]s, so that a rise (or fall) in the expected inflation rate will typically result in a rise (or fall) in nominal interest rates, giving a smaller effect if any on ]s. In addition, higher expected inflation tends to be built into the rate of wage increases, giving a smaller effect if any on the changes in ]. Moreover, the response of inflationary expectations to monetary policy can influence the division of the effects of policy between inflation and unemployment (see ]).

== Causes ==
{{Organize section|date=February 2024}}

=== Historical approaches ===

Theories of the origin and causes of inflation have existed since at least the 16th century. Two competing theories, the ] and the ], appeared in various disguises during century-long debates on recommended central bank behaviour. In the 20th century, ], ] and ] (also known as ]) views on inflation dominated post-World War II ] discussions, which were often heated intellectual debates, until some kind of synthesis of the various theories was reached by the end of the century.

==== Before 1936 ====
{{main|Real bills doctrine}}

The ] from ca. 1550–1700 caused several thinkers to present what is now considered to be early formulations of the ] (QTM). Other contemporary authors attributed rising price levels to the debasement of national coinages. Later research has shown that also growing output of ]an silver mines and an increase in the ] because of innovations in the payment technology, in particular the increased use of ], contributed to the price revolution.<ref name=Dimand>{{cite book|last1=Dimand |first1=Robert W. |chapter=Monetary Economics, History of |title=The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics |date=2016 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2721-1 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2721-1 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-95121-5 |language=en}}</ref>

An alternative theory, the ] (RBD), originated in the 17th and 18th century, receiving its first authoritative exposition in ]'s '']''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Roy |title=Real Bills Doctrine |journal=The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics |date=2018 |pages=11328–11330 |doi=10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1614|isbn=978-1-349-95188-8 }}</ref> It asserts that banks should issue their money in exchange for short-term real bills of adequate value. As long as banks only issue a dollar in exchange for assets worth at least a dollar, the issuing bank's assets will naturally move in step with its issuance of money, and the money will hold its value. Should the bank fail to get or maintain assets of adequate value, then the bank's money will lose value, just as any financial security will lose value if its asset backing diminishes. The real bills doctrine (also known as the backing theory) thus asserts that inflation results when money outruns its issuer's assets. The quantity theory of money, in contrast, claims that inflation results when money outruns the economy's production of goods.

During the 19th century, three different schools debated these questions: The ] upheld a quantity theory view, believing that the ]'s issues of bank notes should vary one-for-one with the bank's gold reserves. In contrast to this, the ] followed the real bills doctrine, recommending that the bank's operations should be governed by the needs of trade: Banks should be able to issue currency against bills of trading, i.e. "real bills" that they buy from merchants. A third group, the Free Banking School, held that competitive private banks would not overissue, even though a monopolist central bank could be believed to do it.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schwartz |first1=Anna J. |title=Banking School, Currency School, Free Banking School |journal=The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics |date=2018 |pages=694–700 |doi=10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_263|isbn=978-1-349-95188-8 }}</ref>

The debate between currency, or quantity theory, and banking schools during the 19th century prefigures current questions about the credibility of money in the present. In the 19th century, the banking schools had greater influence in policy in the United States and Great Britain, while the ] had more influence "on the continent", that is in non-British countries, particularly in the ] and the ].

During the Bullionist Controversy during the ], ] argued that the Bank of England had engaged in over-issue of bank notes, leading to commodity price increases. In the late 19th century, supporters of the quantity theory of money led by ] debated with supporters of ]. Later, ] sought to explain price movements as the result of real shocks rather than movements in money supply, resounding statements from the real bills doctrine.<ref name=Dimand/>

In 2019, monetary historians ] and ] published "Gold, the Real Bills Doctrine, and the Fed: Sources of Monetary Disorder 1922–1938".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Humphrey |first1=Thomas M. |last2=Timberlake |first2=Richard H. |title=Gold, the Real Bills Doctrine, and the Fed : sources of monetary disorder 1922–1938 |date=2019 |publisher=Cato Institute |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-1-948647-13-7 |edition=First}}</ref>

==== Keynes and the early Keynesians ====
{{further|Keynesian Revolution}}
{{further|Keynes's theory of wages and prices}}
John Maynard Keynes in his 1936 main work '']'' emphasized that wages and prices were ] in the short run, but gradually responded to ] shocks. These could arise from many different sources, e.g. autonomous movements in investment or fluctuations in private wealth or interest rates.<ref name=parkin/> Economic policy could also affect demand, ] by affecting interest rates and ] either directly through the level of ] or indirectly by changing ] via tax changes.

The various sources of variations in aggregate demand will cause cycles in both output and price levels. Initially, a demand change will primarily affect output because of the price stickiness, but eventually prices and wages will adjust to reflect the change in demand. Consequently, movements in real output and prices will be positively, but not strongly, correlated.<ref name=parkin/>

Keynes' propositions formed the basis of ] which came to dominate macroeconomic research and economic policy in the first decades after World War II.<ref name="Blanchard">Blanchard (2021).</ref>{{rp|526}} Other Keynesian economists developed and reformed several of Keynes' ideas. Importantly, ] in 1958 published indirect evidence of a negative relation between inflation and unemployment, confirming the Keynesian emphasis on a positive correlation between increases in real output (normally accompanied by a fall in unemployment) and rising prices, i.e. inflation. Phillips' findings were confirmed by other empirical analyses and became known as a ]. It quickly became central to macroeconomic thinking, apparently offering a stable trade-off between ] and employment. The curve was interpreted to imply that a country could achieve low unemployment if it were willing to tolerate a higher inflation rate or vice versa.<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|173}}

The Phillips curve model described the U.S. experience well in the 1960s, but failed to describe the ].

==== Monetarism ====
[[File:CPI 1914-2022.webp|thumb|alt=CPI 1914–2022|upright=1.8|
{{legend|#0076BA |Inflation}}
{{legend|#EE220C |]}}
{{legend-line|#1DB100 solid 3px|] increases Year/Year}}
]]
]
{{Further|Monetarism}}

During the 1960s the Keynesian view of inflation and macroeconomic policy altogether were challenged by ] theories, led by ].<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|528–529}} Friedman famously stated that ''"Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon."''<ref>{{cite book|first1=Milton|last1= Friedman|first2=Anna Jacobson |last2=Schwartz|title=A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960|url=https://archive.org/details/monetaryhistoryo00frie|url-access=registration|year=1963|publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref> He revived the ] by ] and others, making it into a central tenet of monetarist thinking, arguing that the most significant factor influencing inflation or deflation is how fast the ] grows or shrinks.<ref name="Lagassé, Paul 2000">{{cite book |author=Lagassé, Paul |title=The Columbia Encyclopedia |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |year=2000 |chapter=Monetarism |isbn=0-7876-5015-3 |edition=6th |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/columbiaencyclop00laga }}</ref>

The quantity theory of money, simply stated, says that any change in the amount of money in a system will change the price level. This theory begins with the ]:

:<math>MV = PQ,</math>
where where
:<math>P</math> is the general price level; :<math>M</math> is the nominal quantity of money;
:<math>V</math> is the ] in final expenditures; :<math>V</math> is the ] in final expenditures;
:<math>Q</math> is an index of the ] of final expenditures; :<math>P</math> is the general price level;
:<math>M</math> is the quantity of money. :<math>Q</math> is an index of the ] of final expenditures.

In this formula, the general price level is related to the level of real economic activity (''Q''), the quantity of money (''M'') and the velocity of money (''V''). The formula itself is simply an uncontroversial ] because the velocity of money (''V'') is defined residually from the equation to be the ratio of final nominal expenditure (<math> PQ </math>) to the quantity of money (''M'').<ref name=Mankiw>Mankiw (2022).</ref>{{rp|99}}

Monetarists assumed additionally that the velocity of money is unaffected by monetary policy (at least in the long run), that the real value of output is also ] in the long run, its long-run value being determined independently by the productive capacity of the economy, and that money supply is exogenous and can be controlled by the monetary authorities. Under these assumptions, the primary driver of the change in the general price level is changes in the quantity of money.<ref name=Mankiw/> Consequently, monetarists contended that monetary policy, not fiscal policy, was the most potent instrument to influence aggregate demand, real output and eventually inflation. This was contrary to Keynesian thinking which in principle recognized a role for monetary policy, but in practice believed that the effect from interest rate changes to the real economy was slight, making monetary policy an ineffective instrument, preferring fiscal policy.<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|528}} Conversely, monetarists considered fiscal policy, or government spending and taxation, as ineffective in controlling inflation.<ref name="Lagassé, Paul 2000"/>

Friedman also took issue with the traditional Keynesian view concerning the Phillips curve. He, together with ], contended that the trade-off between inflation and unemployment implied by the Phillips curve was only temporary, but not permanent. If politicians tried to exploit it, it would eventually disappear because higher inflation would over time be built into the economic expectations of households and firms.<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|528–529}} This line of thinking led to the concept of ] (sometimes called the "natural gross domestic product"), a level of GDP where the economy is stable in the sense that inflation will neither decrease nor increase. This level may itself change over time when institutional or natural constraints change. It corresponds to the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment, ], or the "natural" rate of unemployment (sometimes called the "structural" level of unemployment).<ref name=Blanchard/> If GDP exceeds its potential (and unemployment consequently is below the NAIRU), the theory says that inflation will ''accelerate'' as suppliers increase their prices. If GDP falls below its potential level (and unemployment is above the NAIRU), inflation will ''decelerate'' as suppliers attempt to fill excess capacity, cutting prices and undermining inflation.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Coe | first = David T. | title = Nominal Wages. The NAIRU and Wage Flexibility | publisher = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) | url = http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/59/19/33917832.pdf | year = 1985 | id = MPRA Paper 114295 | journal = OECD Economic Studies | issue = 5 | pages = 87–126 | s2cid = 18879396 | access-date = February 24, 2010 | archive-date = February 26, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180226211933/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/59/19/33917832.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>

==== Rational expectations theory ====

{{Further|Rational expectations}}

In the early 1970s, ] led by economists like ], ] and ] transformed macroeconomic thinking radically. They held that economic actors look rationally into the future when trying to maximize their well-being, and do not respond solely to immediate ]s and pressures.<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|529–530}} In this view, future expectations and strategies are important for inflation as well. One implication was that agents would anticipate the likely behaviour of central banks and base their own actions on these expectations. A central bank having a reputation of being "soft" on inflation will generate high inflation expectations, which again will be self-fulfilling when all agents build expectations of future high inflation into their nominal contracts like wage agreements. On the other hand, if the central bank has a reputation of being "tough" on inflation, then such a policy announcement will be believed and inflationary expectations will come down rapidly, thus allowing inflation itself to come down rapidly with minimal economic disruption. The implication is that ] becomes very important for central banks in fighting inflation.<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|467–469}}

==== New Keynesians ====

Events during the 1970s proved Milton Friedman and other critics of the traditional Phillips curve right: The relation between the inflation rate and the unemployment rate broke down. Eventually, a consensus was established that the break-down was due to agents changing their inflation expectations, confirming Friedman's theory. As a consequence, the notion of a ] (alternatively called the structural rate of unemployment) was accepted by most economists, meaning that there is a specific level of unemployment that is compatible with stable inflation. ] must therefore try to steer economic activity so that the actual unemployment rate converges towards that level.<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|176–189}} The trade-off between the ] and inflation implied by Phillips thus holds in the short term, but not in the long term.<ref name="chang">Chang, R. (1997) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113212953/https://www.frbatlanta.org/filelegacydocs/ACFC7.pdf|date=November 13, 2013}} ''Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Economic Review'' 1Q97: 4–13.</ref> Also the ] causing at the same time rising unemployment and rising inflation (i.e. ]) led to a broad recognition by economists that ]s could independently affect inflation.<ref name=parkin/><ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|529}}

During the 1980s a group of researchers named ] emerged who accepted many originally non-Keynesian concepts like the importance of monetary policy, the existence of a natural level of unemployment and the incorporation of rational expectations formation as a reasonable benchmark. At the same time they believed, like Keynes did, that various ]s in different markets like labour markets and financial markets were also important to study to understand both inflation generation and ]s.<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|533–534}} During the 1980s and 1990s, there were often heated intellectual debates between new Keynesians and new classicals, but by the 2000s, a synthesis gradually emerged. The result has been called the ''new Keynesian model'',<ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|535}} the "]"<ref name=Goodfriend>{{cite journal |last1=Goodfriend |first1=Marvin |title=How the World Achieved Consensus on Monetary Policy |journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives |date=1 November 2007 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=47–68 |doi=10.1257/jep.21.4.47|s2cid=56338417 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Woodford |first1=Michael |title=Convergence in Macroeconomics: Elements of the New Synthesis |journal=American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics |date=1 January 2009 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=267–279 |doi=10.1257/mac.1.1.267}}</ref> or simply the "new consensus" model.<ref name=Goodfriend/>

=== View post-2000 to present ===
{{See also|Economic analysis of climate change|Housing shortage}}

A common view beginning around the year 2000 and holding through to the present time on inflation and its causes can be illustrated by a modern Phillips curve including a role for supply shocks and inflation expectations beside the original role of aggregate demand (determining employment and unemployment fluctuations) in influencing the inflation rate.<ref name=Blanchard/> Consequently, demand shocks, supply shocks and inflation expectations are all potentially important determinants of inflation,<ref name=congress/> confirming the basis of the older ] by ]:<ref>Robert J. Gordon (1988), ''Macroeconomics: Theory and Policy'', 2nd ed., Chap. 22.4, 'Modern theories of inflation'. McGraw-Hill.</ref>

* ''Demand shocks'' may both decrease and increase inflation. So-called ] may be caused by increases in aggregate demand due to increased private and government spending,<ref name="Biden Is Clueless About Inflation – Reason – Nick Gillespie & Regan Taylor reporting">{{cite web |last1=Gillespie |first1=Nick |last2=Taylor |first2=Regan |title=Biden Is Clueless About Inflation |url=https://reason.com/video/2022/04/01/biden-is-clueless-about-inflation/ |website=reason.com |date=April 2022 |publisher=Reason |access-date=4 April 2022 |archive-date=April 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427225435/https://reason.com/video/2022/04/01/biden-is-clueless-about-inflation/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Blame Insane Government Spending for Inflation – Reason – Veronique De Rugy">{{cite web |last1=De Rugy |first1=Veronique |title=Blame Insane Government Spending for Inflation |url=https://reason.com/2022/03/31/blame-insane-government-spending-for-inflation/ |website=reason.com |date=March 31, 2022 |publisher=Reason |access-date=4 April 2022 |archive-date=May 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511170305/https://reason.com/2022/03/31/blame-insane-government-spending-for-inflation/ |url-status=live }}</ref> etc. Conversely, negative demand shocks may be caused by ] economic policy.
* ''Supply shocks'' may also lead to both higher or lower inflation, depending on the character of the shock. ] is caused by a drop in aggregate supply (potential output). This may be due to natural disasters, war or increased prices of inputs. For example, a sudden decrease in the supply of oil, leading to increased oil prices, can cause cost-push inflation. Producers for whom oil is a part of their costs could then pass this on to consumers in the form of increased prices.<ref name=Britannica>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/287700/inflation/3512/The-cost-push-theory|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=September 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907030214/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/287700/inflation/3512/The-cost-push-theory/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''Inflation expectations'' play a major role in forming actual inflation. High inflation can prompt employees to demand rapid wage increases to keep up with consumer prices. In this way, rising wages in turn can help fuel inflation as firms pass these higher labor costs on to their customers as higher prices, leading to a feedback loop. In the case of collective bargaining, wage growth may be set as a function of inflationary expectations, which will be higher when inflation is high. This can cause a ]. In a sense, inflation begets further inflationary expectations, which beget further ].<ref name=Britannica/>

The important role of rational expectations is recognized by the emphasis on credibility on the part of central banks and other ].<ref name=Goodfriend/> The monetarist assertion that monetary policy alone could successfully control inflation formed part of the new consensus which recognized that both monetary and fiscal policy are important tools for influencing aggregate demand.<ref name=Goodfriend/><ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|528}} Indeed, monetary policy is under normal circumstances considered to be the preferable instrument to contain inflation.<ref name=congress>{{cite web |title=Inflation in the U.S. Economy: Causes and Policy Options |url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47273/2 |website=crsreports.congress.gov |publisher=Congressional Research Service |access-date=15 October 2023 |date=October 6, 2022}}</ref><ref name=Blanchard/> At the same time, most central banks have abandoned trying to target money growth as originally advocated by the monetarists. Instead, most central banks in developed countries focus on adjusting interest rates to achieve an explicit inflation target.<ref name="Romer">{{cite book |last1=Romer |first1=David |title=Advanced macroeconomics |date=2019 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-1-260-18521-8 |edition=Fifth |location=New York, New York |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name=Blanchard/>{{rp|505–509}} The reason for central bank reluctance in following money growth targets is that the money stock measures that central banks can control tightly, e.g. the ], are not very closely linked to aggregate demand, whereas conversely money supply measures like ], which are in some cases more closely correlated with aggregate demand, are difficult to control for the central bank. Also, in many countries the relationship between aggregate demand and all money stock measures have broken down in recent decades, weakening further the case for monetary policy rules focusing on the money supply.<ref name=Romer/>{{rp|608}}

However, while more disputed in the 1970s, surveys of members of the ] (AEA) since the 1990s have shown that most professional American economists generally agree with the statement "Inflation is caused primarily by too much growth in the money supply", while the same surveys have shown a lack of consensus by AEA members since the 1990s that "In the short run, a reduction in unemployment causes the rate of inflation to increase" has developed despite more agreement with the statement in the 1970s.{{refn|group=list|name=AEAConsensus|<ref name="1976 AEA survey">{{cite journal|last1=Kearl|first1=J. R.|last2=Pope|first2=Clayne L.|last3=Whiting|first3=Gordon C.|last4=Wimmer|first4=Larry T.|year=1979|title=A Confusion of Economists?|journal=American Economic Review|publisher=American Economic Association|volume=69|issue=2|pages=28–37|jstor=1801612}}</ref><ref name="1990 AEA survey">{{Cite journal |last1=Alston |first1=Richard M. |last2=Kearl |first2=J.R.|author-link2=James R. Kearl |last3=Vaughan |first3=Michael B. |title=Is There a Consensus Among Economists in the 1990's? |date=May 1992 |journal=] |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=203–209 |jstor=2117401 |url=http://www.weber.edu/wsuimages/AcademicAffairs/ProvostItems/global.pdf}}</ref><ref name="2000 AEA survey">{{Cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Dan |last2=Geide-Stevenson |first2=Doris |title=Consensus Among Economists: Revisited |date=Fall 2003 |journal=] |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=369–387 |jstor=30042564 |doi=10.1080/00220480309595230|s2cid=143617926 }}</ref><ref name="2011 AEA survey">{{cite journal|last1=Fuller|first1=Dan|last2=Geide-Stevenson|first2=Doris|title=Consensus Among Economists – An Update|year=2014|journal=]|publisher=]|volume=45|issue=2|page=138|doi=10.1080/00220485.2014.889963|s2cid=143794347|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261884738}}</ref><ref name="2021 AEA survey">{{cite conference|last1=Geide-Stevenson|first1=Doris|last2=La Parra-Perez|first2=Alvaro|year=2022|title=Consensus among economists 2020 – A sharpening of the picture|conference=Western Economic Association International Annual Conference|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357526861|access-date=October 13, 2023}}</ref>}}

]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Derby |first=Michael S. |date=September 27, 2022 |title=Fed's Harker says housing shortage a key inflation driver |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-harker-says-housing-shortage-key-inflation-driver-2022-09-27/ |work=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=O'Donnell |first1=Katy |last2=Guida |first2=Victoria |date=November 10, 2021 |title=Biden's next inflation threat: The rent is too damn high |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/10/rent-inflation-biden-520642 |work=Politico |quote=Housing costs just posted one of their largest monthly gains in decades, and many economists expect them to loom large in inflation figures over the next year heading into the 2022 midterm elections. It's not just economists — the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in research released Monday that Americans on average expect rents to rise 10.1 percent over the next year, the highest reading in the survey's history.}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Boak |first=Josh |date=2024-03-15 |title=Why are so many voters frustrated by the US economy? It's home prices |url=https://apnews.com/article/biden-inflation-housing-trump-home-price-rent-248ef02e197c3a7ffb801e370c529d33 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=AP News |language=en |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Donnell |first=Katy |date=March 18, 2022 |title=The main driver of inflation isn't what you think it is |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/18/housing-costs-inflation-00015808 |work=Politico |quote=But when it comes to the single biggest driver of runaway prices, Washington's hands are mostly tied. Skyrocketing housing costs may create even bigger problems for the administration going forward than oil and food price spikes, which are the result of sudden and unforeseen — but probably temporary — events. That's because there's no clear end in sight for shelter inflation.}}</ref> and ]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Borenstein |first=Seth |date=2024-03-21 |title=Higher temperatures mean higher food and other prices. A new study links climate shocks to inflation |url=https://apnews.com/article/inflation-climate-change-food-prices-heat-6e5297e12868aaf797529bb755268818 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 23, 2024 |title=Home insurance rates are rising due to climate change. What could break that cycle? |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/07/18/1198912918/home-insurance-rates-are-rising-due-to-climate-change-what-could-break-that-cycl |work=NPR}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Becker |first=William S. |date=2024-07-22 |title=Opinion: Climate inflation is eating your paycheck — and it's only going to get worse |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4782252-climate-inflation-economic-impact/ |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 11, 2024 |title=How is climate change affecting food prices and inflation? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2024/7/11/how-is-climate-change-affecting-food-prices-and-inflation |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> have both been cited as significant drivers of inflation in the 21st century.

==== 2021–2022 inflation spike ====

{{main|2021–2022 inflation spike}}

In 2021–2022, most countries experienced a considerable ], peaking in 2022 and declining in 2023. The causes are believed to be a mixture of demand and supply shocks, whereas inflation expectations generally seem to remain anchored (as per May 2023).<ref name="Brookings">{{cite web |last1=Bernanke |first1=Ben |last2=Blanchard |first2=Olivier |title=What Caused the U.S. Pandemic-Era Inflation? |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Bernanke-Blanchard-conference-draft_5.23.23.pdf |website=www.brookings.edu |publisher=Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution |access-date=15 October 2023 |date=May 23, 2023}}</ref> Possible causes on the demand side include expansionary fiscal and monetary policy in the wake of the global ], whereas supply shocks include ] problems also caused by the pandemic<ref name="Brookings" /> and exacerbated by energy price rises following the ] in 2022.

The term ] was coined during this period to describe the effect of corporate profits as a possible cause of inflation: Price inelasticity can contribute to inflation when ], tending to support monopoly or ] conditions anywhere along the ] for goods or services. When this occurs, firms can provide greater ] by taking a larger proportion of ] than by investing in providing greater volumes of their outputs.<ref name="Mankiw7partV">{{cite book |last1=Mankiw |first1=N. Gregory |title=Principles of economics |date=2015 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1285165875 |edition=Seventh |location=Stamford, Connecticut |pages=257–367 |language=en-us |chapter=Part V, chapters 13–17}}</ref><ref name="BivinsEpi22">{{cite web |last1=Bivins |first1=Josh |title=Corporate profits have contributed disproportionately to inflation. How should policymakers respond? |url=https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/ |website=Economic Policy Institute |access-date=25 May 2022 |date=21 April 2022 |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525111507/https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Shortly after initial energy price shocks caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine had subsided, oil companies found that supply chain constrictions, already exacerbated by the ongoing global pandemic, supported price inelasticity, i.e., they began lowering prices to match the ] when it fell much more slowly than they had increased their prices when costs rose.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cronin |first1=Brittany |date=7 May 2022 |title=The good times are rolling for Big Oil. 3 things to know about their surging profits |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097177459/big-oil-exxon-earnings-gasoline-prices-crude |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521123900/https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097177459/big-oil-exxon-earnings-gasoline-prices-crude |archive-date=May 21, 2022 |access-date=25 May 2022 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref>

The ] has long been popular with ] critics of the Federal Reserve. During the COVID pandemic and its immediate aftermath, the M2 money supply increased at the fastest rate in decades, leading some to link the growth to the 2021-2023 inflation surge. Fed chairman ] said in December 2021 that the once-strong link between the money supply and inflation "ended about 40 years ago," due to financial innovations and deregulation. Previous Fed chairs ] and ], had previously concurred with this position. The broadest measure of money supply, M3, increased about 45% from 2010 through 2015, far faster than GDP growth, yet the inflation rate declined during that period — the opposite of what monetarism would have predicted. A lower ] than was historically the case<ref>{{cite news |title=Velocity of M2 Money Stock |url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2V |publisher=]}}</ref> was also cited for a diminished effect of growth in the money supply on inflation.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hanke |first1=Steve H. |last2=John Greenwood |title=Inflation Was Always a Monetary Phenomenon, Never Transitory |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/01/inflation-was-always-a-monetary-phenomenon-never-transitory/ |work=] |date=January 15, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lynch |first1=David J. |title=Inflation has Fed critics pointing to spike in money supply |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/06/federal-reserve-inflation-money-supply/ |newspaper=] |date=February 6, 2022}}</ref>

===Heterodox views===

Additionally, there are theories about inflation accepted by economists outside of the ]. The ] stresses that inflation is not uniform over all assets, goods, and services. Inflation depends on differences in markets and on where newly created money and credit enter the economy. ] said that inflation should refer to an increase in the quantity of money, that is not offset by a corresponding increase in the need for money, and that price inflation will necessarily follow, always leaving a poorer<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mises |first1=Ludwig von |title=Human Action |url=https://oll.libertyfund.org/quote/ludwig-von-mises-lays-out-five-fundamental-truths-of-monetary-expansion-1949 |website=OLL |access-date=July 17, 2021 |archive-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925084337/https://oll.libertyfund.org/quote/ludwig-von-mises-lays-out-five-fundamental-truths-of-monetary-expansion-1949 |url-status=live }}</ref> nation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Von Mises|first=Ludwig|title=The Theory of Money and Credit|year=1912|publisher=Yale University Press|page=240|url=https://mises.org/books/tmc.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://mises.org/books/tmc.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|edition=1953|access-date=January 23, 2014|quote=In theoretical investigation there is only one meaning that can rationally be attached to the expression Inflation: an increase in the quantity of money (in the broader sense of the term, so as to include fiduciary media as well), that is not offset by a corresponding increase in the demand for money (again in the broader sense of the term), so that a fall in the objective exchange-value of money must occur.}}</ref><ref name="TheTheory">The Theory of Money and Credit, Mises (1912, ), p. 272.</ref>

== Effects of inflation ==

=== General effect ===
]

Inflation is the decrease in the purchasing power of a currency. That is, when the general level of prices rise, each monetary unit can buy fewer goods and services in aggregate. The effect of inflation differs on different sectors of the economy, with some sectors being adversely affected while others benefitting. For example, with inflation, those segments in society which own physical assets, such as property, stock etc., benefit from the price/value of their holdings going up, when those who seek to acquire them will need to pay more for them. Their ability to do so will depend on the degree to which their income is fixed. For example, increases in payments to workers and pensioners often lag behind inflation, and for some people income is fixed. Also, individuals or institutions with cash assets will experience a decline in the purchasing power of the cash. Increases in the price level (inflation) erode the real value of money (the functional currency) and other items with an underlying monetary nature.

Debtors who have debts with a fixed nominal rate of interest will see a reduction in the "real" interest rate as the inflation rate rises. The real interest on a loan is the nominal rate minus the inflation rate. The formula ''R = N-I'' approximates the correct answer as long as both the nominal interest rate and the inflation rate are small. The correct equation is ''r = n/i'' where ''r'', ''n'' and ''i'' are expressed as ]s (e.g. 1.2 for +20%, 0.8 for −20%). As an example, when the inflation rate is 3%, a loan with a nominal interest rate of 5% would have a real interest rate of approximately 2% (in fact, it's 1.94%). Any unexpected increase in the inflation rate would decrease the real interest rate. Banks and other lenders adjust for this inflation risk either by including an inflation risk premium to fixed interest rate loans, or lending at an adjustable rate.

=== Negative ===

High or unpredictable inflation rates are regarded as harmful to an overall economy. They add inefficiencies in the market, and make it difficult for companies to budget or plan long-term. Inflation can act as a drag on productivity as companies are forced to shift resources away from products and services to focus on profit and losses from currency inflation.<ref name=Taylor /> Uncertainty about the future purchasing power of money discourages investment and saving.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Personal Savings and Anticipated Inflation | journal=The Economic Journal | last=Bulkley | first=George | volume=91 | issue=361 |date=March 1981| pages=124–135 | doi=10.2307/2231702 | jstor=2231702}}</ref> Inflation hurts asset prices such as stock performance in the short-run, as it erodes non-energy corporates' profit margins and leads to central banks' policy tightening measures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stock Returns and Inflation Redux: An Explanation from Monetary Policy in Advanced and Emerging Markets |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2021/08/20/Stock-Returns-and-Inflation-Redux-An-Explanation-from-Monetary-Policy-in-Advanced-and-463391 |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=IMF |language=en |archive-date=January 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108213505/https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2021/08/20/Stock-Returns-and-Inflation-Redux-An-Explanation-from-Monetary-Policy-in-Advanced-and-463391 |url-status=live }}</ref> Inflation can also impose hidden tax increases. For instance, inflated earnings push taxpayers into higher income tax rates unless the tax brackets are indexed to inflation.

With high inflation, purchasing power is redistributed from those on fixed nominal incomes, such as some pensioners whose pensions are not indexed to the price level, towards those with variable incomes whose earnings may better keep pace with the inflation.<ref name=Taylor /> This redistribution of purchasing power will also occur between international trading partners. Where fixed ]s are imposed, higher inflation in one economy than another will cause the first economy's exports to become more expensive and affect the ]. There can also be negative effects to trade from an increased instability in currency exchange prices caused by unpredictable inflation.

;]: People buy durable and/or non-perishable commodities and other goods as stores of wealth, to avoid the losses expected from the declining purchasing power of money, creating shortages of the hoarded goods.

;Social unrest and revolts: Inflation can lead to massive demonstrations and revolutions. For example, inflation and in particular ] is considered one of the main reasons that caused the 2010–2011 ]<ref>"Les Egyptiens souffrent aussi de l'accélération de l'inflation", Céline Jeancourt-Galignani{{snd}}La Tribune, February 10, 2011.</ref> and the ],<ref name="tna">{{Cite news|url=http://www.thenewage.co.za/8894-1007-53-Egypt_protests_a_ticking_time_bomb_Analysts|title=Egypt protests a ticking time bomb: Analysts|author=AFP|publisher=The New Age|date=January 27, 2011|access-date=January 29, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209104208/http://www.thenewage.co.za/8894-1007-53-Egypt_protests_a_ticking_time_bomb_Analysts|archive-date=February 9, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> according to many observers including ],<ref>"Les prix alimentaires proches de 'la cote d'alerte'" – Le Figaro, with AFP, February 20, 2011.</ref> president of the ]. Tunisian president ] was ousted, Egyptian President ] was also ousted after only 18 days of demonstrations, and protests soon spread in many countries of North Africa and Middle East.

;]: If inflation becomes too high, it can cause people to severely curtail their use of the currency, leading to an acceleration in the inflation rate. High and accelerating inflation grossly interferes with the normal workings of the economy, hurting its ability to supply goods. Hyperinflation can lead people to abandon the use of the country's currency in favour of external currencies (]), as has been reported to have occurred in ].<ref name="cato">{{Cite news |author=Hanke |first=Steve H. |date=July 2013 |title=North Korea: From Hyperinflation to Dollarization? |url=http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/north-korea-hyperinflation-dollarization |website=Cato Institute |url-status=live |access-date=August 21, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201226020043/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/north-korea-hyperinflation-dollarization |archive-date=December 26, 2020}}</ref>

;]: Due to a high rise of inflation,<ref group="Ströer Media">{{cite web |title=Inflation worldwide – Statics & Facts |url=https://www.statista.com/topics/8378/inflation-worldwide/#topicOverview |website=Statista |publisher=Einar H. Dyvik |access-date=March 11, 2024}}</ref> it has been seen to affect unemployment levels around the world. From 2005 to 2019, it was found that the wellbeing costs of unemployment was 5 times higher than inflation. The trust between the central banks and individuals has become more limited. According to the Global Labor Organization (GLO),<ref>{{cite web |title= Organization |url=https://glabor.org/organization/ |website=Global Labor Organization |date=July 28, 2017 |access-date=March 11, 2024}}</ref> a global sample of 1.5 million observations during the 1999 and 2012 found a negative relationship of ECB unemployment between countries of Spain, Ireland, Greece, and Portugal a financial crisis.<ref>{{cite web |title=The societal costs of inflation and unemployment |last1=Popova |first1=Olga |last2=See |first2=Sarah Grace |last3=Nikolova |first3=Milena |last4=Otrachshenko |first4=Vladimir |date=2023 |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/279442/1/GLO-DP-1341.pdf |website=Global Labor Organization |publisher=EconStor |access-date=March 11, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313051643/https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/279442/1/GLO-DP-1341.pdf |archive-date= Mar 13, 2024 }}</ref> Lack of trust is shown between the government and political institutions which potentially, this can create bias towards both sides as unemployment rate will still increase. If the rate goes on, predictions of the economic activity may decrease, and investments from around the world will soon slowdown creating an "economy crash" that can affect millions of peoples' living.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Claessens |first1=Stijin |last2=Kose |first2=M. Ayhan |title=Recession: When Bad Times Prevail |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/Series/Back-to-Basics/Recession#:~:text=The%20unemployment%20rate%20almost%20always,with%20turmoil%20in%20financial%20markets. |website=F&D |publisher=IMF |access-date=March 11, 2024}}</ref>

;]: A change in the supply or demand for a good will normally cause its ] to change, signaling the buyers and sellers that they should re-allocate resources in response to the new market conditions. But when prices are constantly changing due to inflation, price changes due to genuine relative ]s are difficult to distinguish from price changes due to general inflation, so agents are slow to respond to them. The result is a loss of ].

;]: High inflation increases the opportunity cost of holding cash balances and can induce people to hold a greater portion of their assets in interest paying accounts. However, since cash is still needed to carry out transactions this means that more "trips to the bank" are necessary to make withdrawals, proverbially wearing out the "shoe leather" with each trip.

;]
]
: With high inflation, firms must change their prices often to keep up with economy-wide changes. But often changing prices is itself a costly activity whether explicitly, as with the need to print new menus, or implicitly, as with the extra time and effort needed to change prices constantly.

;]: Inflation serves as a hidden tax on currency holdings.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cooley|first1=Thomas F.|last2=Hansen|first2=Gary D.|date=1989|title=The Inflation Tax in a Real Business Cycle Model|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1827929|journal=The American Economic Review|volume=79|issue=4|pages=733–748|jstor=1827929|issn=0002-8282|access-date=October 7, 2021|archive-date=October 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008164402/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1827929|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Inflation: A Tax on Money Holdings|url=https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/jfloyd/modules/inft.html|access-date=2021-10-07|website=www.economics.utoronto.ca|archive-date=November 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111215101/https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/jfloyd/modules/inft.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Positive ===

;Labour-market adjustments: Nominal wages are ]. This can lead to prolonged disequilibrium and high unemployment in the labor market. Since inflation allows real wages to fall even if nominal wages are kept constant, moderate inflation enables labor markets to reach equilibrium faster.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tobin |first1=James |date=1972 |title=Inflation and Unemployment |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1821468 |journal=American Economic Review |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |jstor=1821468 |access-date=2023-03-22}}</ref>

;Room to maneuver: The primary tools for controlling the money supply are the ability to set the ], the rate at which banks can borrow from the central bank, and ], which are the central bank's interventions into the bonds market with the aim of affecting the nominal interest rate. If an economy finds itself in a recession with already low, or even zero, nominal interest rates, then the bank cannot cut these rates further (since negative nominal interest rates are impossible) to stimulate the economy{{snd}}this situation is known as a ].

;Mundell–Tobin effect: According to the Mundell–Tobin effect, an increase in inflation leads to an increase in capital investment, which leads to an increase in growth.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Jeffrey A. |date=2006 |title=Politics, Inflation, and the Mundell–Tobin Effect |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/36443/ |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de |language=en |archive-date=November 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101141711/https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/36443/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The ] laureate ] noted that moderate inflation would induce savers to substitute lending for some money holding as a means to finance future spending. That substitution would cause market clearing real interest rates to fall.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mundell|first=James|journal=Journal of Political Economy|volume=LXXI|year=1963|pages=280–283 |title=Inflation and Real Interest|issue=3|doi=10.1086/258771|s2cid=153733633}}</ref> The lower real rate of interest would induce more borrowing to finance investment. In a similar vein, Nobel laureate ] noted that such inflation would cause businesses to substitute investment in ] (plant, equipment, and inventories) for money balances in their asset portfolios. That substitution would mean choosing the making of investments with lower rates of real return. (The rates of return are lower because the investments with higher rates of return were already being made before.)<ref>Tobin, J. ''Econometrica'', Vol. 33, (1965), pp. 671–684 "Money and Economic Growth"</ref> The two related effects are known as the ]. Unless the economy is already overinvesting according to models of ], that extra investment resulting from the effect would be seen as positive.

;Instability with deflation: Economist ] noted that once substantial deflation is expected, two important effects will appear; both a result of money holding substituting for lending as a vehicle for saving.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tsiang |first1=S. C. |title=A Critical Note on the Optimum Supply of Money |journal=Journal of Money, Credit and Banking |date=1969 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=266–280 |doi=10.2307/1991274 |jstor=1991274 |url=https://ideas.repec.org/a/mcb/jmoncb/v1y1969i2p266-80.html |language=en |access-date=October 20, 2020 |archive-date=April 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425223335/https://ideas.repec.org/a/mcb/jmoncb/v1y1969i2p266-80.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The first was that continually falling prices and the resulting incentive to hoard money will cause instability resulting from the likely increasing fear, while money hoards grow in value, that the value of those hoards are at risk, as people realize that a movement to trade those money hoards for real goods and assets will quickly drive those prices up. Any movement to spend those hoards "once started would become a tremendous avalanche, which could rampage for a long time before it would spend itself."<ref>Tsiang, 1969 (p. 272).</ref> Thus, a regime of long-term deflation is likely to be interrupted by periodic spikes of rapid inflation and consequent real economic disruptions. The second effect noted by Tsiang is that when savers have substituted money holding for lending on financial markets, the role of those markets in channeling savings into investment is undermined. With nominal interest rates driven to zero, or near zero, from the competition with a high return money asset, there would be no price mechanism in whatever is left of those markets. With financial markets effectively euthanized, the remaining goods and physical asset prices would move in perverse directions. For example, an increased desire to save could not push interest rates further down (and thereby stimulate investment) but would instead cause additional money hoarding, driving consumer prices further down and making investment in consumer goods production thereby less attractive. Moderate inflation, once its expectation is incorporated into nominal interest rates, would give those interest rates room to go both up and down in response to shifting investment opportunities, or savers' preferences, and thus allow financial markets to function in a more normal fashion.

=== Cost-of-living allowance ===

{{See also|Cost of living}}

The real purchasing power of fixed payments is eroded by inflation unless they are inflation-adjusted to keep their real values constant. In many countries, employment contracts, pension benefits, and government entitlements (such as ]) are tied to a cost-of-living index, typically to the ].<ref name="cola wars">{{cite web |url=http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0906/090806rp.htm |title=COLA Wars |date=September 8, 2006 |work=Government Executive |publisher=] |access-date=September 23, 2008 |last=Flanagan |first=Tammy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005120234/http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0906/090806rp.htm |archive-date=October 5, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A ''cost-of-living adjustment'' (COLA) adjusts salaries based on changes in a cost-of-living index.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kunkel |first=Sue |title=Cost-Of-Living Adjustment (COLA) |url=https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/colasummary.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127155725/https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colasummary.html |archive-date=November 27, 2021 |access-date=2018-05-15 |website=www.ssa.gov |language=en-us}}</ref> It does not control inflation, but rather seeks to mitigate the consequences of inflation for those on fixed incomes. Salaries are typically adjusted annually in low inflation economies. During hyperinflation they are adjusted more often.<ref name="cola wars" /> They may also be tied to a cost-of-living index that varies by geographic location if the employee moves.

Annual escalation clauses in employment contracts can specify retroactive or future percentage increases in worker pay which are not tied to any index. These negotiated increases in pay are colloquially referred to as cost-of-living adjustments ("COLAs") or cost-of-living increases because of their similarity to increases tied to externally determined indexes.

== Controlling inflation ==

] is the policy enacted by the monetary authorities (most frequently the ] of a nation) to accomplish their objectives.<ref name="palgrave">Lindsey, D. E.; Wallich, H. C. (2018). "Monetary Policy". In: ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics''. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved September 17, 2023.</ref> Among these, keeping inflation at a low and stable level is often a prominent objective, either directly via ] or indirectly, e.g. via a ] against a low-inflation currency area.

=== Historical approaches to inflation control ===


Historically, central banks and governments have followed various policies to achieve low inflation, employing various nominal anchors. Before ], the ] was prevalent, but was eventually found to be detrimental to ] and employment, not least during the ] in the 1930s.<ref name="Historical"/> For the first decades after ], the ] initiated a ] for most developed countries, tying their currencies to the US dollar, which again was directly convertible to gold.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the IMF: History: Cooperation and reconstruction (1944–1971) |url=https://www.imf.org/external/about/histcoop.htm |access-date=17 September 2023 |website=www.imf.org}}</ref> The system disintegrated in the 1970s, however, after which the major currencies started floating against each other.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the IMF: History: The end of the Bretton Woods System (1972–1981) |url=https://www.imf.org/external/about/histend.htm |access-date=17 September 2023 |website=www.imf.org}}</ref> During the 1970s many central banks turned to a ] target recommended by ] and other ]s, aiming for a stable growth rate of money to control inflation. However, it was found to be impractical because of the unstable relationship between monetary aggregates and other macroeconomic variables, and was eventually abandoned by all major economies.<ref name="Historical">{{cite web |title=Federal Reserve Board – Historical Approaches to Monetary Policy |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/historical-approaches-to-monetary-policy.htm |website=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System |access-date=17 September 2023 |language=en |date=8 March 2018}}</ref> In 1990, New Zealand as the first country ever adopted an official ] as the basis of its monetary policy, continually adjusting interest rates to steer the country's inflation rate towards its official target. The strategy was generally considered to work well, and central banks in most ] have over the years adapted a similar strategy.<ref name=Holdingline>{{cite web |title=Inflation Targeting: Holding the Line |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/basics/72-inflation-targeting.htm |website=www.imf.org |access-date=17 September 2023}}</ref> As of 2023, the central banks of all ] member countries can be said to follow an inflation target, including the ] and the ], who have adopted the main elements of inflation targeting without officially calling themselves inflation targeters.<ref name=Holdingline/> In emerging countries fixed exchange rate regimes are still the most common monetary policy.<ref name=IMF>{{cite book |last1=Department |first1=International Monetary Fund Monetary and Capital Markets |title=Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions 2022 |date=2023 |publisher=International Monetary Fund |isbn=979-8-4002-3526-9 |url=https://www.elibrary.imf.org/display/book/9798400235269/9798400235269.xml?code=imf.org |access-date=12 August 2023 |language=en }}</ref>
In this formula, the general price level is affected by the level of economic activity (Q), the quantity of money (M) and the velocity of money (V). The formula is an identity because the velocity of money is defined to be the ratio of final expenditure (P \cdot Q</math>) to the quantity of money.


=== Inflation targeting ===
Velocity of money is often assumed to be constant, and the real value of output is determined in the long run, by the productive capacity of the economy. Under these assumptions, the primary driver of the change in the general price level is changes in the quantity of money. With constant velocity, the money supply determines the value of nominal output (which equals final expenditure) in the short run In practice, velocity is not constant, and can only be measured indirectly and so the formula does not necessarily imply a stable relationship between money supply and nominal output.


{{Main|Inflation targeting}}
However, in the long run, changes in money supply and level of economic activity usually dwarf changes in velocity. If velocity is constant, the long run rate of increase in prices (inflation) is equal to the difference between the long run growth rate of money supply and the long run growth rate of real output.
] charted over fifty years]]


From its first inception in New Zealand in 1990, direct inflation targeting as a monetary policy strategy has spread to become prevalent among developed countries. The basic idea is that the central bank perpetually adjusts interest rates to steer the country's inflation rate towards its official target. Via the ] interest rate changes affect ] in various ways, causing output and employment to respond.<ref>{{cite web |title=Federal Reserve Board – Monetary Policy: What Are Its Goals? How Does It Work? |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/monetary-policy-what-are-its-goals-how-does-it-work.htm |website=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System |access-date=17 September 2023 |language=en |date=July 29, 2021}}</ref> Changes in employment and unemployment rates affect wage setting, leading to larger or smaller wage increases, depending on the direction of the interest rate adjustment. A changed rate of wage increases will transmit into changes in ] – i.e. a change in the inflation rate. The relation between (un)employment and inflation is known as the ].
===Rational expectations===
] holds that economic actors look rationally into the future when trying to maximize their well-being, and do not respond solely to immediate opportunity costs and pressures. In this view, while generally grounded in monetarism, future expectations and strategies are important for inflation as well.


In most ], the inflation target is usually about 2% to 3% (in developing countries like ], the inflation target is higher, at around 4%).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inflation Reports |url=https://www.cba.am/en/SitePages/mppubl.aspx |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=www.cba.am |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206004614/https://www.cba.am/en/SitePages/mppubl.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> Low (as opposed to zero or ]) inflation reduces the severity of economic recessions by enabling the labor market to adjust more quickly in a downturn, and reduces the risk that a ] prevents monetary policy from stabilizing the economy.<ref name="econjournalwatch.org"/><ref name="aeaweb.org"/>
A core assertion of rational expectations theory is that actors will seek to "head off" central-bank decisions by acting in ways that fulfill predictions of higher inflation. This means that central banks must establish their credibility in fighting inflation, or have economic actors make bets that the economy will expand, believing that the central bank will expand the money supply rather than allow a recession.


=== Fixed exchange rates ===
==Other theories about the causes of inflation==
===Austrian School===


{{Main|Fixed exchange rate system}}
The ] maintains that there is no material distinction between monetary inflation and price inflation (price inflation being the inevitable result of monetary inflation). *'''True Money Supply''' (TMS)
Under a fixed exchange rate currency regime, a country's currency is tied in value to another single currency or to a basket of other currencies. A fixed exchange rate is usually used to stabilize the value of a currency, vis-a-vis the currency it is pegged to. It can also be used as a means to control inflation if the currency area tied to itself maintains low and stable inflation. However, as the value of the reference currency rises and falls, so does the currency pegged to it. This essentially means that the inflation rate in the fixed exchange rate country is determined by the inflation rate of the country the currency is pegged to. In addition, a fixed exchange rate prevents a government from using domestic monetary policy to achieve macroeconomic stability.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blanchard |first1=Olivier |title=Macroeconomics: a European perspective |last2=Amighini |first2=Alessia |last3=Giavazzi |first3=Francesco |date=2017 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-1-292-08567-8 |edition=3rd |location=Harlow, London, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto, Sydney, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, New Delhi, Cape Town, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Madrid, Amsterdam, Muinch, Paris, Milan |chapter=Output, the interest rate and the exchange rate}}</ref>
Following their definition, ] measure the inflation by calculating the growth of the money supply, i.e. how many new units of money that are available for immediate use in exchange, that have been created over time.<ref>Ludwig von Mises Institute, ""</ref><ref>Joseph T. Salerno, (1987), Austrian Economic Newsletter, ""</ref><ref>Frank Shostak, (2000), ""</ref>


As of 2023, ] is the only ] country which maintains a fixed exchange rate (against the ]), but it is frequently used as a monetary policy strategy in developing countries.<ref name=IMF/>
This interpretation of inflation implies that inflation is always a distinct action taken by the ] or its ], which permits or allows an increase in the ].<ref>Ludwig von Mises, ", ISBN 0-913966-70-3 See also: Jesus Huerta de Soto, "", ISBN 0-945466-39-4</ref> In addition to state-induced monetary expansion, the ] also maintains that the effects of increasing the money supply are magnified by credit expansion, as a result of the ] system employed in most economic and financial systems in the world.<ref>Murray Rothbard, "", ISBN 978-0945466444 [</ref>


=== Gold standard ===
Austrians claim that the state uses inflation as one of the three means by which it can fund its activities, the other two being taxing and borrowing.<ref>Lew Rockwell, interview on ""</ref> Therefore, they often seek to identify the reasons for why the state needs to create new money, and what the new money is used for. Various forms of military spending is often cited as a reason for resorting to inflation and borrowing, as this can be a short term way of acquiring marketable resources and is often favored by desperate, indebted governments.<ref>Lew Rockwell, "", Ludwig von Mises Institute</ref> In other cases, the ] may try avoid or defer the widespread bankruptcies and insolvencies which cause economic ]s or ]s by artificially trying to "stimulate" the economy through "encouraging" ] growth and further borrowing via artificially low interest rates.<ref>Thorsten Polleit, "", 13 December 2007</ref>


{{Main|Gold standard}}
===Supply-side economics===
] gold coins from the ], a historical example of an international gold standard]]
] asserts that inflation is caused by either an increase in the supply of money or a decrease in the demand for balances of money. Thus the inflation experienced during the ] in medieval Europe is seen as being caused by a decrease in the demand for money, the money stock used was gold coin and it was relatively fixed, while inflation in the 1970s is regarded as initially caused by an increased supply of money that occurred following the U.S. exit from the ] ]. ] asserts that the money supply can grow without causing inflation as long as the demand for balances of money also grows.{{Fact|date=August 2007}}


The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common medium of exchange is paper notes (or other monetary token) that are normally freely convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold. The standard specifies how the gold backing would be implemented, including the amount of ] per currency unit. The currency itself has no ''innate value'' but is accepted by traders because it can be redeemed for the equivalent value of the commodity (specie). A ], for example, could be redeemed for an actual piece of silver.
===Issues of classical political economy===
While economic theory before the "marginal revolution" is no longer the basis for current economic theory, many of the institutions, concepts, and terms used in economics come from the "classical" period of political economy, including monetary policy, quantity and quality theories of economics, central banking, velocity of money, price levels and division of the economy into production and consumption. For this reason debates about present economics often reference problems of classical political economy, and the currency versus banking debates of that period.


Under a gold standard, the long term rate of inflation (or deflation) would be determined by the growth rate of the supply of gold relative to total output.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last =Bordo|first =Michael D.|date =2002|url =http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GoldStandard.html|title =Gold Standard|encyclopedia =The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics|publisher =Library of Economics and Liberty|access-date =September 23, 2008|archive-date =October 5, 2010|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20101005063134/http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GoldStandard.html|url-status =live}}</ref> Critics argue that this will cause arbitrary fluctuations in the inflation rate, and that monetary policy would essentially be determined by an intersection of however much new gold was produced by mining and changing demand for gold for practical uses.<ref name="BarskyDeLong">{{cite journal |last1=Barsky |first1=Robert B. |last2=DeLong |first2=J. Bradford |year=1991 |title=Forecasting Pre-World War I Inflation: The Fisher Effect and the Gold Standard |url=https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/qjecon/v106y1991i3p815-36.html |url-status=live |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=815–836 |doi=10.2307/2937928 |jstor=2937928 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620163911/https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/qjecon/v106y1991i3p815-36.html |archive-date=June 20, 2015 |access-date=September 27, 2008}}</ref><ref name="DeLong">{{cite web |url=http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/Politics/whynotthegoldstandard.html |title=Why Not the Gold Standard? |last=DeLong |first=Brad |access-date=September 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018035441/http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/politics/whynotthegoldstandard.html |archive-date=October 18, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The gold standard was historically found to make it more difficult to stabilize employment levels and avoid recessions and was eventually abandoned everywhere.<ref name="Historical"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Abdel-Monem |first=Tarik |title=What is The Gold Standard? |url=http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/faq/faq_docs/gold_standard.shtml |publisher=University of Iowa Center for The Center for International Finance and Development |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121143147/http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/faq/faq_docs/gold_standard.shtml |archive-date=2009-11-21 }}</ref>
===Currency and banking schools===
Within the context of a fixed specie basis for money, one important controversy was between the "Quantity Theory" of money and the ], or RBD. Within this context, quantity theory applies to the level of fractional reserve accounting allowed against specie, generally gold, held by a bank. The RBD argues that banks should also be able to issue currency against bills of trading, which is "real bills" that they buy from merchants. This theory was important in the 19th century in debates between "Banking" and "Currency" schools of monetary soundness, and in the formation of the ]. In the wake of the collapse of the international gold standard post 1913, and the move towards deficit financing of government, RBD has remained a minor topic, primarily of interest in limited contexts, such as ]s. It is generally held in ill repute today, with ], a governor of the ] going so far as to say it had been "completely discredited." Even so, it has theoretical support from a few economists, particularly those that see restrictions on a particular class of credit as incompatible with ] principles of laissez-faire, even though almost all libertarian economists are opposed to the RBD.


=== Wage and price controls ===
The debate between currency, or quantity theory, and banking schools in Britain during the 19th century prefigures current questions about the credibility of money in the present. In the 19th century the banking school had greater influence in policy in the United States and Great Britain, while the currency school had more influence "on the continent", that is in non-British countries, particularly in the Latin Monetary Union and the earlier Scandinavia monetary union.


{{See also|Incomes policy}}
===Anti-classical or backing theory===
Another method attempted in the past have been wage and ] ("incomes policies"). Temporary price controls may be used as a complement to other policies to fight inflation; price controls may make disinflation faster, while reducing the need for unemployment to reduce inflation. If price controls are used during a recession, the kinds of distortions that price controls cause may be lessened. However, economists generally advise against the imposition of price controls.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why Price Controls Should Stay in the History Books |url=https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/2022/mar/why-price-controls-should-stay-history-books |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=www.stlouisfed.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Committee |first=United States Joint Economic |title=The Economics of Price Controls - The Economics of Price Controls - United States Joint Economic Committee |url=https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/2022/9/the-economics-of-price-controls |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=www.jec.senate.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Price Controls: Still A Bad Idea |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/price-controls-still-bad-idea |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=Hoover Institution |language=en}}</ref>
Another issue associated with classical political economy is the anti-classical hypothesis of money, or "backing theory". The backing theory<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp830.pdf|title=www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp830.pdf<!--INSERT TITLE-->|format=PDF}}</ref> argues that the value of money is determined by the assets and liabilities of the issuing agency. Unlike the Quantity Theory of classical political economy, the backing theory argues that issuing authorities can issue money without causing inflation so long as the money issuer has sufficient assets to cover redemptions.


Wage and price controls, in combination with rationing, have been used successfully in wartime environments. However, their use in other contexts is far more mixed. Notable failures of their use include ] by ]. More successful examples include the ] in Australia and the ] in the ].
==Controlling inflation==
Today most central banks are tasked with keeping inflation at a low level, normally 2 to 3% per annum within the targeted low inflation range which could range from 2 to 6% per annum.


In general, wage and price controls are regarded as a temporary and exceptional measures, only effective when coupled with policies designed to reduce the underlying causes of inflation during the ] control regime, for example, winning the war being fought.
There are a number of methods that have been suggested to control inflation. ]s such as the U.S. ] can affect inflation to a significant extent through setting interest rates and through other operations (that is, using ]). High ]s and slow growth of the money supply are the traditional ways through which central banks fight or prevent inflation, though they have different approaches. For instance, some follow a ] while others only control inflation when it rises above a target, whether express or implied.


== See also ==
Monetarists emphasize increasing interest rates (slowing the rise in the money supply, ]) to fight inflation. Keynesians emphasize reducing demand in general, often through ], using increased taxation or reduced government spending to reduce demand as well as by using monetary policy. ] advocate fighting inflation by fixing the exchange rate between the currency and some reference currency such as gold. This would be a return to the ]. All of these policies are achieved in practice through a process of ].


{{cols|colwidth=21em}}
Another method attempted in the past have been wage and price controls ("]"). Wage and price controls have been successful in wartime environments in combination with rationing. However, their use in other contexts is far more mixed. Notable failures of their use include the ] imposition of wage and price controls by ]. In general wage and price controls are regarded as a drastic measure, and only effective when coupled with policies designed to reduce the underlying causes of inflation during the wage and price control regime, for example, winning the war being fought. They often have perverse effects, due to the distorted signals they send to the market. Artificially low prices often cause rationing and shortages and discourage future investment - resulting in yet further shortages. The usual economic analysis is that any product or service that is under-priced is overconsumed. For example, if the official price of bread is too low, there will be too little bread at official prices - and too little investment in breadmaking by the market to satisfy future needs, thereby exacerbating the problem in the ].
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] and ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] – for price conversions in Misplaced Pages articles
{{colend}}


== Notes ==
Temporary controls may ''complement'' a recession as a way to fight inflation: the controls make the recession more efficient as a way to fight inflation (reducing the need to increase ]), while the recession prevents the kinds of distortions that controls cause when demand is high. However, in general the advice of economists is not to impose price controls but to liberalize prices by assuming that the economy will adjust and abandon unprofitable economic activity. The lower activity will place fewer demands on whatever commodities were driving inflation, whether labor or resources, and inflation will fall with total economic output. This often produces a severe recession, as productive capacity is reallocated and is thus often very unpopular with the people whose livelihoods are destroyed. See ].
{{reflist|group=Ströer Media}}{{notelist}}{{Reflist|30em}}


; Bundled references
A minority of economists, including some members of the Austrian school, regard inflation as an inevitable consequence of ] control of the money supply and favor a return to the ] <ref>Murray Rothbard, ""</ref>. ], later to become chairman of the ], advocated the gold standard in the 1960s<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/Greenspan.html | last = Greenspan | first = Alan | title = Gold and Economic Freedom | accessdate = 2007-07-25}}</ref> <ref>{{cite news
{{reflist|group=list}}
| first = Harriet
| last = Rubin
| title = Ayn Rand’s Literature of Capitalism
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html
| publisher = The New York Times
|date=2007-09-15
}}</ref>


==See also== == References ==
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* {{Cite book |last1=Abel |first1=Andrew B. |last2=Bernanke |first2=Ben S. |last3=Croushore |first3=Dean |author-link1=Andrew Abel|author-link2=Ben Bernanke |title=Macroeconomics |publisher=Pearson |year=2005 |edition=5th |isbn=978-0-32119963-8}} Measurement of inflation is discussed in Ch. 2, pp.&nbsp;45–50; Money growth & Inflation in Ch. 7, pp.&nbsp;266–269; Keynesian business cycles and inflation in Ch. 9, pp.&nbsp;308–348.
==Notes==
* {{Cite book |last=Barro |first=Robert J. |author-link=Robert Barro |title=Macroeconomics |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |year=1997 |page=895 |language=en-us |isbn=0-262-02436-5}}
{{Reflist|2}}
* {{cite book |last=Blanchard |first=Olivier |author-link=Olivier Blanchard |title=Macroeconomics |date=2021 |publisher=Pearson |location=Harlow, England |isbn=978-0-134-89789-9 |edition=Eighth, global}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mankiw |first=N. Gregory |author-link=Greg Mankiw |title=Macroeconomics |publisher=Worth |year=2002 |edition=5th |isbn=978-0-71675237-0}} Measurement of inflation is discussed in Ch. 2, pp.&nbsp;22–32; Money growth & Inflation in Ch. 4, pp.&nbsp;81–107; Keynesian business cycles and inflation in Ch. 9, pp.&nbsp;238–255.
* {{Cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Robert E. |author-link=Robert Hall (economist) |last2=Taylor |first2=John B. |author-link2=John B. Taylor |title=Macroeconomics |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York |year=1993 |page= |isbn=0-393-96307-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/macroeconomics00hall/page/637 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Burda |first1=Michael C. |author-link=Michael C. Burda |last2=Wyplosz |first2=Charles |title=Macroeconomics: a European text |publisher=] |location=Oxford |year=1997 |isbn=0-19-877468-0 }}


==Further reading== == Further reading ==
*], (Ottawa : Jameson Books, 1990), 503-506 & Chapter 19 ISBN 0-915463-73-3
*], ''What You Should Know About Inflation''
*], ''On the debasement of money'' (De Mutatione Monetae)
*Mishkin, Frederic S., The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets, New York, Harper Collins, 1995.
*Baumol, William J. and Alan S. Blinder, ''Macroeconomics: Principles and Policy'', Tenth edition. Thomson South-Western, 2006. ISBN 0-324-22114-2
*], , Conference Series 53, June 9–11, 2008, Chatham, Massachusetts. (Also cf. ] article)


* World Bank, 2018. . Edited by Jongrim Ha, M. Ayhan Kose, and Franziska Ohnsorge.
==External links==
* ], "The Honest Government's Guide to the Revenue From the Creation of Money", Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 82, No. 3, May/June 1974, pp.&nbsp;598–606.
*
* ] and ], ''Macroeconomics: Principles and Policy'', Tenth edition. Thomson South-Western, 2006. {{ISBN|0-324-22114-2}}.
*
* ], Nobel lecture: 1977.
* ], ''The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets'', New York, HarperCollins, 1995.
* ], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826003309/http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/conf/conf53/index.htm |date=August 26, 2013 }}, Conference Series 53, June 9–11, 2008, Chatham, Massachusetts. (Also cf. ] article).


== External links ==
<big>'''Statistical sources'''</big>
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* - A time-series chart of U.S. Consumer Price Index.
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* - discusses changes in the value of money over time.
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* - US Dollars (1790-2006), UK pounds (1830-2006), price of gold (1257-2006)
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* - Based on the historical Consumer Price Index of the Swedish Riksbank
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* - Based on consumer price indices (1800-2006)
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Latest revision as of 10:29, 9 January 2025

Devaluation of currency over a period of time This article is about a rise in general price level. For the expansion of the early universe, see Inflation (cosmology). For other uses, see Inflation (disambiguation).

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Inflation rates among members of the International Monetary Fund in April 2024
UK and US monthly inflation rates from January 1989

In economics, inflation is a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy. This is usually measured using a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of CPI inflation is deflation, a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index. As prices faced by households do not all increase at the same rate, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used for this purpose.

Changes in inflation are widely attributed to fluctuations in real demand for goods and services (also known as demand shocks, including changes in fiscal or monetary policy), changes in available supplies such as during energy crises (also known as supply shocks), or changes in inflation expectations, which may be self-fulfilling. Moderate inflation affects economies in both positive and negative ways. The negative effects would include an increase in the opportunity cost of holding money; uncertainty over future inflation, which may discourage investment and savings; and, if inflation were rapid enough, shortages of goods as consumers begin hoarding out of concern that prices will increase in the future. Positive effects include reducing unemployment due to nominal wage rigidity, allowing the central bank greater freedom in carrying out monetary policy, encouraging loans and investment instead of money hoarding, and avoiding the inefficiencies associated with deflation.

Today, some economists favour a low and steady rate of inflation, though inflation is less popular with the general public than with economists, since "inflation simultaneously transfers some of people's income into the hands of government." Low (as opposed to zero or negative) inflation reduces the probability of economic recessions by enabling the labor market to adjust more quickly in a downturn and reduces the risk that a liquidity trap prevents monetary policy from stabilizing the economy while avoiding the costs associated with high inflation. The task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is usually given to central banks that control monetary policy, normally through the setting of interest rates and by carrying out open market operations.

Terminology

The term originates from the Latin inflare (to blow into or inflate). Conceptually, inflation refers to the general trend of prices, not changes in any specific price. For example, if people choose to buy more cucumbers than tomatoes, cucumbers consequently become more expensive and tomatoes less expensive. These changes are not related to inflation; they reflect a shift in tastes. Inflation is related to the value of currency itself. When currency was linked with gold, if new gold deposits were found, the price of gold and the value of currency would fall, and consequently, prices of all other goods would become higher.

Classical economics

By the nineteenth century, economists categorised three separate factors that cause a rise or fall in the price of goods: a change in the value or production costs of the good, a change in the price of money which then was usually a fluctuation in the commodity price of the metallic content in the currency, and currency depreciation resulting from an increased supply of currency relative to the quantity of redeemable metal backing the currency. Following the proliferation of private banknote currency printed during the American Civil War, the term "inflation" started to appear as a direct reference to the currency depreciation that occurred as the quantity of redeemable banknotes outstripped the quantity of metal available for their redemption. At that time, the term inflation referred to the devaluation of the currency, and not to a rise in the price of goods. This relationship between the over-supply of banknotes and a resulting depreciation in their value was noted by earlier classical economists such as David Hume and David Ricardo, who would go on to examine and debate what effect a currency devaluation has on the price of goods.

Related concepts

Other economic concepts related to inflation include: deflation – a fall in the general price level; disinflation – a decrease in the rate of inflation; hyperinflation – an out-of-control inflationary spiral; stagflation – a combination of inflation, slow economic growth and high unemployment; reflation – an attempt to raise the general level of prices to counteract deflationary pressures; and asset price inflation – a general rise in the prices of financial assets without a corresponding increase in the prices of goods or services; agflation – an advanced increase in the price for food and industrial agricultural crops when compared with the general rise in prices.

More specific forms of inflation refer to sectors whose prices vary semi-independently from the general trend. "House price inflation" applies to changes in the house price index while "energy inflation" is dominated by the costs of oil and gas.

History

US historical inflation (in blue) and deflation (in green) from the mid-17th century to the beginning of the 21st

Overview

Inflation has been a feature of history during the entire period when money has been used as a means of payment. One of the earliest documented inflations occurred in Alexander the Great's empire 330 BCE. Historically, when commodity money was used, periods of inflation and deflation would alternate depending on the condition of the economy. However, when large, prolonged infusions of gold or silver into an economy occurred, this could lead to long periods of inflation.

The adoption of fiat currency by many countries, from the 18th century onwards, made much larger variations in the supply of money possible. Rapid increases in the money supply have taken place a number of times in countries experiencing political crises, producing hyperinflations – episodes of extreme inflation rates much higher than those observed in earlier periods of commodity money. The hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic of Germany is a notable example. The hyperinflation in Venezuela is the highest in the world, with an annual inflation rate of 833,997% as of October 2018.

Historically, inflations of varying magnitudes have occurred, interspersed with corresponding deflationary periods, from the price revolution of the 16th century, which was driven by the flood of gold and particularly silver seized and mined by the Spaniards in Latin America, to the largest paper money inflation of all time in Hungary after World War II.

However, since the 1980s, inflation has been held low and stable in countries with independent central banks. This has led to a moderation of the business cycle and a reduction in variation in most macroeconomic indicators – an event known as the Great Moderation.

Silver purity through time in early Roman imperial silver coins. To increase the number of silver coins in circulation while short on silver, the Roman imperial government repeatedly debased the coins. They melted relatively pure silver coins and then struck new silver coins of lower purity but of nominally equal value. Silver coins were relatively pure before Nero (AD 54–68), but by the 270s had hardly any silver left.The silver content of Roman silver coins rapidly declined during the Crisis of the Third Century.

Ancient Europe

Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire in 330 BCE was followed by one of the earliest documented inflation periods in the ancient world. Rapid increases in the quantity of money or in the overall money supply have occurred in many different societies throughout history, changing with different forms of money used. For instance, when silver was used as currency, the government could collect silver coins, melt them down, mix them with other, less valuable metals such as copper or lead and reissue them at the same nominal value, a process known as debasement. At the ascent of Nero as Roman emperor in AD 54, the denarius contained more than 90% silver, but by the 270s hardly any silver was left. By diluting the silver with other metals, the government could issue more coins without increasing the amount of silver used to make them. When the cost of each coin is lowered in this way, the government profits from an increase in seigniorage. This practice would increase the money supply but at the same time the relative value of each coin would be lowered. As the relative value of the coins becomes lower, consumers would need to give more coins in exchange for the same goods and services as before. These goods and services would experience a price increase as the value of each coin is reduced. Again at the end of the third century CE during the reign of Diocletian, the Roman Empire experienced rapid inflation.

Ancient China

Song dynasty China introduced the practice of printing paper money to create fiat currency. During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the government spent a great deal of money fighting costly wars, and reacted by printing more money, leading to inflation. Fearing the inflation that plagued the Yuan dynasty, the Ming dynasty initially rejected the use of paper money, and reverted to using copper coins.

Medieval Egypt

During the Malian king Mansa Musa's hajj to Mecca in 1324, he was reportedly accompanied by a camel train that included thousands of people and nearly a hundred camels. When he passed through Cairo, he spent or gave away so much gold that it depressed its price in Egypt for over a decade, reducing its purchasing power. A contemporary Arab historian remarked about Mansa Musa's visit:

Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came in that year. The mithqal did not go below 25 dirhams and was generally above, but from that time its value fell and it cheapened in price and has remained cheap till now. The mithqal does not exceed 22 dirhams or less. This has been the state of affairs for about twelve years until this day by reason of the large amount of gold which they brought into Egypt and spent there .

— Chihab Al-Umari, Kingdom of Mali

Medieval age and "price revolution" in Western Europe

There is no reliable evidence of inflation in Europe for the thousand years that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, but from the Middle Ages onwards reliable data do exist. Mostly, the medieval inflation episodes were modest, and there was a tendency that inflationary periods were followed by deflationary periods.

From the second half of the 15th century to the first half of the 17th, Western Europe experienced a major inflationary cycle referred to as the "price revolution", with prices on average rising perhaps sixfold over 150 years. This is often attributed to the influx of gold and silver from the New World into Habsburg Spain, with wider availability of silver in previously cash-starved Europe causing widespread inflation. European population rebound from the Black Death began before the arrival of New World metal, and may have begun a process of inflation that New World silver compounded later in the 16th century.

After 1700

A pattern of intermittent inflation and deflation periods persisted for centuries until the Great Depression in the 1930s, which was characterized by major deflation. Since the Great Depression, however, there has been a general tendency for prices to rise every year. In the 1970s and early 1980s, annual inflation in most industrialized countries reached two digits (ten percent or more). The double-digit inflation era was of short duration, however, inflation by the mid-1980s returned to more modest levels. Amid this, general trends there have been spectacular high-inflation episodes in individual countries in interwar Europe, towards the end of the Nationalist Chinese government in 1948–1949, and later in some Latin American countries, in Israel, and in Zimbabwe. Some of these episodes are considered hyperinflation periods, normally designating inflation rates that surpass 50 percent monthly.

Measures

See also: Consumer price index
PPI is a leading indicator, CPI and PCE lag   PPI   Core PPI   CPI   Core CPI   PCE   Core PCE

Given that there are many possible measures of the price level, there are many possible measures of price inflation. Most frequently, the term "inflation" refers to a rise in a broad price index representing the overall price level for goods and services in the economy. The consumer price index (CPI), the personal consumption expenditures price index (PCEPI) and the GDP deflator are some examples of broad price indices. However, "inflation" may also be used to describe a rising price level within a narrower set of assets, goods or services within the economy, such as commodities (including food, fuel, metals), tangible assets (such as real estate), services (such as entertainment and health care), or labor. Although the values of capital assets are often casually said to "inflate," this should not be confused with inflation as a defined term; a more accurate description for an increase in the value of a capital asset is appreciation. The FBI (CCI), the producer price index, and employment cost index (ECI) are examples of narrow price indices used to measure price inflation in particular sectors of the economy. Core inflation is a measure of inflation for a subset of consumer prices that excludes food and energy prices, which rise and fall more than other prices in the short term. The Federal Reserve Board pays particular attention to the core inflation rate to get a better estimate of long-term future inflation trends overall.

The inflation rate is most widely calculated by determining the movement or change in a price index, typically the consumer price index.

The inflation rate is the percentage change of a price index over time. The Retail Prices Index is also a measure of inflation that is commonly used in the United Kingdom. It is broader than the CPI and contains a larger basket of goods and services. Inflation is politically driven, and policy can directly influence the trend of inflation.

The RPI is indicative of the experiences of a wide range of household types, particularly low-income households.

To illustrate the method of calculation, in January 2007, the U.S. Consumer Price Index was 202.416, and in January 2008 it was 211.080. The formula for calculating the annual percentage rate inflation in the CPI over the course of the year is: ( 211.080 202.416 202.416 ) × 100 % = 4.28 % {\displaystyle \left({\frac {211.080-202.416}{202.416}}\right)\times 100\%=4.28\%}

The resulting inflation rate for the CPI in this one-year period is 4.28%, meaning the general level of prices for typical U.S. consumers rose by approximately four percent in 2007.

Other widely used price indices for calculating price inflation include the following:

  • Producer price indices (PPIs) which measures average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output. This differs from the CPI in that price subsidization, profits, and taxes may cause the amount received by the producer to differ from what the consumer paid. There is also typically a delay between an increase in the PPI and any eventual increase in the CPI. Producer price index measures the pressure being put on producers by the costs of their raw materials. This could be "passed on" to consumers, or it could be absorbed by profits, or offset by increasing productivity. In India and the United States, an earlier version of the PPI was called the Wholesale price index.
  • Commodity price indices, which measure the price of a selection of commodities. In the present commodity price indices are weighted by the relative importance of the components to the "all in" cost of an employee.
  • Core price indices: because food and oil prices can change quickly due to changes in supply and demand conditions in the food and oil markets, it can be difficult to detect the long run trend in price levels when those prices are included. Therefore, most statistical agencies also report a measure of 'core inflation', which removes the most volatile components (such as food and oil) from a broad price index like the CPI. Because core inflation is less affected by short run supply and demand conditions in specific markets, central banks rely on it to better measure the inflationary effect of current monetary policy.

Other common measures of inflation are:

  • GDP deflator is a measure of the price of all the goods and services included in gross domestic product (GDP). The US Commerce Department publishes a deflator series for US GDP, defined as its nominal GDP measure divided by its real GDP measure.

GDP Deflator = Nominal GDP Real GDP {\displaystyle {\mbox{GDP Deflator}}={\frac {\mbox{Nominal GDP}}{\mbox{Real GDP}}}}

  • Regional inflation The Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks down CPI-U calculations down to different regions of the US.
  • Historical inflation Before collecting consistent econometric data became standard for governments, and for the purpose of comparing absolute, rather than relative standards of living, various economists have calculated imputed inflation figures. Most inflation data before the early 20th century is imputed based on the known costs of goods, rather than compiled at the time. It is also used to adjust for the differences in real standard of living for the presence of technology.
  • Asset price inflation is an undue increase in the prices of real assets, such as real estate.

In some cases, the measures are meant to be more humorous or to reflect a single place. This includes:

Issues in measuring

Measuring inflation in an economy requires objective means of differentiating changes in nominal prices on a common set of goods and services, and distinguishing them from those price shifts resulting from changes in value such as volume, quality, or performance. For example, if the price of a can of corn changes from $0.90 to $1.00 over the course of a year, with no change in quality, then this price difference represents inflation. This single price change would not, however, represent general inflation in an overall economy. Overall inflation is measured as the price change of a large "basket" of representative goods and services. This is the purpose of a price index, which is the combined price of a "basket" of many goods and services. The combined price is the sum of the weighted prices of items in the "basket". A weighted price is calculated by multiplying the unit price of an item by the number of that item the average consumer purchases. Weighted pricing is necessary to measure the effect of individual unit price changes on the economy's overall inflation. The consumer price index, for example, uses data collected by surveying households to determine what proportion of the typical consumer's overall spending is spent on specific goods and services, and weights the average prices of those items accordingly. Those weighted average prices are combined to calculate the overall price. To better relate price changes over time, indexes typically choose a "base year" price and assign it a value of 100. Index prices in subsequent years are then expressed in relation to the base year price. While comparing inflation measures for various periods one has to take into consideration the base effect as well.

Inflation measures are often modified over time, either for the relative weight of goods in the basket, or in the way in which goods and services from the present are compared with goods and services from the past. Basket weights are updated regularly, usually every year, to adapt to changes in consumer behavior. Sudden changes in consumer behavior can still introduce a weighting bias in inflation measurement. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic it has been shown that the basket of goods and services was no longer representative of consumption during the crisis, as numerous goods and services could no longer be consumed due to government containment measures ("lock-downs").

Over time, adjustments are also made to the type of goods and services selected to reflect changes in the sorts of goods and services purchased by 'typical consumers'. New products may be introduced, older products disappear, the quality of existing products may change, and consumer preferences can shift. Different segments of the population may naturally consume different "baskets" of goods and services and may even experience different inflation rates. It is argued that companies have put more innovation into bringing down prices for wealthy families than for poor families.

Inflation numbers are often seasonally adjusted to differentiate expected cyclical cost shifts. For example, home heating costs are expected to rise in colder months, and seasonal adjustments are often used when measuring inflation to compensate for cyclical energy or fuel demand spikes. Inflation numbers may be averaged or otherwise subjected to statistical techniques to remove statistical noise and volatility of individual prices.

When looking at inflation, economic institutions may focus only on certain kinds of prices, or special indices, such as the core inflation index which is used by central banks to formulate monetary policy.

Most inflation indices are calculated from weighted averages of selected price changes. This necessarily introduces distortion, and can lead to legitimate disputes about what the true inflation rate is. This problem can be overcome by including all available price changes in the calculation, and then choosing the median value. In some other cases, governments may intentionally report false inflation rates; for instance, during the presidency of Cristina Kirchner (2007–2015) the government of Argentina was criticised for manipulating economic data, such as inflation and GDP figures, for political gain and to reduce payments on its inflation-indexed debt.

Official vs. true vs. perceived inflation

The true inflation is one percentage point lower than the official one, according to research. Therefore, the 2% inflation target is needed to prevent the true inflation being close to zero or even deflation. The reasons are the following:

  • Substitution effect: People buy fewer products with the highest price rises and more of those whose prices have risen less. Therefore, the price of their non-fixed shopping basket rises less than that of a fixed shopping basket.
  • Unobserved quality improvements: Even though statisticians try to take quality improvements into account, they are not able to do it fully. This is why people rather buy current products at the higher prices than old products at their old prices.
  • New goods: The current shopping basket is much better, because it has goods that you previously could not even dream of.

Nevertheless, people overestimate the inflation even vs. the measured inflation. This is because they focus more on commonly-bought items than on durable goods, and more on price increases than on price decreases.

On the other hand, different people have different shopping baskets and hence face different inflation rates.

Inflation expectations

Inflation expectations or expected inflation is the rate of inflation that is anticipated for some time in the foreseeable future. There are two major approaches to modeling the formation of inflation expectations. Adaptive expectations models them as a weighted average of what was expected one period earlier and the actual rate of inflation that most recently occurred. Rational expectations models them as unbiased, in the sense that the expected inflation rate is not systematically above or systematically below the inflation rate that actually occurs.

A long-standing survey of inflation expectations is the University of Michigan survey.

Inflation expectations affect the economy in several ways. They are more or less built into nominal interest rates, so that a rise (or fall) in the expected inflation rate will typically result in a rise (or fall) in nominal interest rates, giving a smaller effect if any on real interest rates. In addition, higher expected inflation tends to be built into the rate of wage increases, giving a smaller effect if any on the changes in real wages. Moreover, the response of inflationary expectations to monetary policy can influence the division of the effects of policy between inflation and unemployment (see monetary policy credibility).

Causes

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Historical approaches

Theories of the origin and causes of inflation have existed since at least the 16th century. Two competing theories, the quantity theory of money and the real bills doctrine, appeared in various disguises during century-long debates on recommended central bank behaviour. In the 20th century, Keynesian, monetarist and new classical (also known as rational expectations) views on inflation dominated post-World War II macroeconomics discussions, which were often heated intellectual debates, until some kind of synthesis of the various theories was reached by the end of the century.

Before 1936

Main article: Real bills doctrine

The price revolution from ca. 1550–1700 caused several thinkers to present what is now considered to be early formulations of the quantity theory of money (QTM). Other contemporary authors attributed rising price levels to the debasement of national coinages. Later research has shown that also growing output of Central European silver mines and an increase in the velocity of money because of innovations in the payment technology, in particular the increased use of bills of exchange, contributed to the price revolution.

An alternative theory, the real bills doctrine (RBD), originated in the 17th and 18th century, receiving its first authoritative exposition in Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. It asserts that banks should issue their money in exchange for short-term real bills of adequate value. As long as banks only issue a dollar in exchange for assets worth at least a dollar, the issuing bank's assets will naturally move in step with its issuance of money, and the money will hold its value. Should the bank fail to get or maintain assets of adequate value, then the bank's money will lose value, just as any financial security will lose value if its asset backing diminishes. The real bills doctrine (also known as the backing theory) thus asserts that inflation results when money outruns its issuer's assets. The quantity theory of money, in contrast, claims that inflation results when money outruns the economy's production of goods.

During the 19th century, three different schools debated these questions: The British Currency School upheld a quantity theory view, believing that the Bank of England's issues of bank notes should vary one-for-one with the bank's gold reserves. In contrast to this, the British Banking School followed the real bills doctrine, recommending that the bank's operations should be governed by the needs of trade: Banks should be able to issue currency against bills of trading, i.e. "real bills" that they buy from merchants. A third group, the Free Banking School, held that competitive private banks would not overissue, even though a monopolist central bank could be believed to do it.

The debate between currency, or quantity theory, and banking schools during the 19th century prefigures current questions about the credibility of money in the present. In the 19th century, the banking schools had greater influence in policy in the United States and Great Britain, while the currency schools had more influence "on the continent", that is in non-British countries, particularly in the Latin Monetary Union and the Scandinavian Monetary Union.

During the Bullionist Controversy during the Napoleonic Wars, David Ricardo argued that the Bank of England had engaged in over-issue of bank notes, leading to commodity price increases. In the late 19th century, supporters of the quantity theory of money led by Irving Fisher debated with supporters of bimetallism. Later, Knut Wicksell sought to explain price movements as the result of real shocks rather than movements in money supply, resounding statements from the real bills doctrine.

In 2019, monetary historians Thomas M. Humphrey and Richard Timberlake published "Gold, the Real Bills Doctrine, and the Fed: Sources of Monetary Disorder 1922–1938".

Keynes and the early Keynesians

Further information: Keynesian Revolution Further information: Keynes's theory of wages and prices

John Maynard Keynes in his 1936 main work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money emphasized that wages and prices were sticky in the short run, but gradually responded to aggregate demand shocks. These could arise from many different sources, e.g. autonomous movements in investment or fluctuations in private wealth or interest rates. Economic policy could also affect demand, monetary policy by affecting interest rates and fiscal policy either directly through the level of government final consumption expenditure or indirectly by changing disposable income via tax changes.

The various sources of variations in aggregate demand will cause cycles in both output and price levels. Initially, a demand change will primarily affect output because of the price stickiness, but eventually prices and wages will adjust to reflect the change in demand. Consequently, movements in real output and prices will be positively, but not strongly, correlated.

Keynes' propositions formed the basis of Keynesian economics which came to dominate macroeconomic research and economic policy in the first decades after World War II. Other Keynesian economists developed and reformed several of Keynes' ideas. Importantly, Alban William Phillips in 1958 published indirect evidence of a negative relation between inflation and unemployment, confirming the Keynesian emphasis on a positive correlation between increases in real output (normally accompanied by a fall in unemployment) and rising prices, i.e. inflation. Phillips' findings were confirmed by other empirical analyses and became known as a Phillips curve. It quickly became central to macroeconomic thinking, apparently offering a stable trade-off between price stability and employment. The curve was interpreted to imply that a country could achieve low unemployment if it were willing to tolerate a higher inflation rate or vice versa.

The Phillips curve model described the U.S. experience well in the 1960s, but failed to describe the stagflation experienced in the 1970s.

Monetarism

CPI 1914–2022
  Inflation   Deflation   M2 money supply increases Year/Year
Inflation and the growth of money supply (M2)
Further information: Monetarism

During the 1960s the Keynesian view of inflation and macroeconomic policy altogether were challenged by monetarist theories, led by Milton Friedman. Friedman famously stated that "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." He revived the quantity theory of money by Irving Fisher and others, making it into a central tenet of monetarist thinking, arguing that the most significant factor influencing inflation or deflation is how fast the money supply grows or shrinks.

The quantity theory of money, simply stated, says that any change in the amount of money in a system will change the price level. This theory begins with the equation of exchange:

M V = P Q , {\displaystyle MV=PQ,}

where

M {\displaystyle M} is the nominal quantity of money;
V {\displaystyle V} is the velocity of money in final expenditures;
P {\displaystyle P} is the general price level;
Q {\displaystyle Q} is an index of the real value of final expenditures.

In this formula, the general price level is related to the level of real economic activity (Q), the quantity of money (M) and the velocity of money (V). The formula itself is simply an uncontroversial accounting identity because the velocity of money (V) is defined residually from the equation to be the ratio of final nominal expenditure ( P Q {\displaystyle PQ} ) to the quantity of money (M).

Monetarists assumed additionally that the velocity of money is unaffected by monetary policy (at least in the long run), that the real value of output is also exogenous in the long run, its long-run value being determined independently by the productive capacity of the economy, and that money supply is exogenous and can be controlled by the monetary authorities. Under these assumptions, the primary driver of the change in the general price level is changes in the quantity of money. Consequently, monetarists contended that monetary policy, not fiscal policy, was the most potent instrument to influence aggregate demand, real output and eventually inflation. This was contrary to Keynesian thinking which in principle recognized a role for monetary policy, but in practice believed that the effect from interest rate changes to the real economy was slight, making monetary policy an ineffective instrument, preferring fiscal policy. Conversely, monetarists considered fiscal policy, or government spending and taxation, as ineffective in controlling inflation.

Friedman also took issue with the traditional Keynesian view concerning the Phillips curve. He, together with Edmund Phelps, contended that the trade-off between inflation and unemployment implied by the Phillips curve was only temporary, but not permanent. If politicians tried to exploit it, it would eventually disappear because higher inflation would over time be built into the economic expectations of households and firms. This line of thinking led to the concept of potential output (sometimes called the "natural gross domestic product"), a level of GDP where the economy is stable in the sense that inflation will neither decrease nor increase. This level may itself change over time when institutional or natural constraints change. It corresponds to the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment, NAIRU, or the "natural" rate of unemployment (sometimes called the "structural" level of unemployment). If GDP exceeds its potential (and unemployment consequently is below the NAIRU), the theory says that inflation will accelerate as suppliers increase their prices. If GDP falls below its potential level (and unemployment is above the NAIRU), inflation will decelerate as suppliers attempt to fill excess capacity, cutting prices and undermining inflation.

Rational expectations theory

Further information: Rational expectations

In the early 1970s, rational expectations theory led by economists like Robert Lucas, Thomas Sargent and Robert Barro transformed macroeconomic thinking radically. They held that economic actors look rationally into the future when trying to maximize their well-being, and do not respond solely to immediate opportunity costs and pressures. In this view, future expectations and strategies are important for inflation as well. One implication was that agents would anticipate the likely behaviour of central banks and base their own actions on these expectations. A central bank having a reputation of being "soft" on inflation will generate high inflation expectations, which again will be self-fulfilling when all agents build expectations of future high inflation into their nominal contracts like wage agreements. On the other hand, if the central bank has a reputation of being "tough" on inflation, then such a policy announcement will be believed and inflationary expectations will come down rapidly, thus allowing inflation itself to come down rapidly with minimal economic disruption. The implication is that credibility becomes very important for central banks in fighting inflation.

New Keynesians

Events during the 1970s proved Milton Friedman and other critics of the traditional Phillips curve right: The relation between the inflation rate and the unemployment rate broke down. Eventually, a consensus was established that the break-down was due to agents changing their inflation expectations, confirming Friedman's theory. As a consequence, the notion of a natural rate of unemployment (alternatively called the structural rate of unemployment) was accepted by most economists, meaning that there is a specific level of unemployment that is compatible with stable inflation. Stabilization policy must therefore try to steer economic activity so that the actual unemployment rate converges towards that level. The trade-off between the unemployment rate and inflation implied by Phillips thus holds in the short term, but not in the long term. Also the oil crises of the 1970s causing at the same time rising unemployment and rising inflation (i.e. stagflation) led to a broad recognition by economists that supply shocks could independently affect inflation.

During the 1980s a group of researchers named new Keynesians emerged who accepted many originally non-Keynesian concepts like the importance of monetary policy, the existence of a natural level of unemployment and the incorporation of rational expectations formation as a reasonable benchmark. At the same time they believed, like Keynes did, that various market imperfections in different markets like labour markets and financial markets were also important to study to understand both inflation generation and business cycles. During the 1980s and 1990s, there were often heated intellectual debates between new Keynesians and new classicals, but by the 2000s, a synthesis gradually emerged. The result has been called the new Keynesian model, the "new neoclassical synthesis" or simply the "new consensus" model.

View post-2000 to present

See also: Economic analysis of climate change and Housing shortage

A common view beginning around the year 2000 and holding through to the present time on inflation and its causes can be illustrated by a modern Phillips curve including a role for supply shocks and inflation expectations beside the original role of aggregate demand (determining employment and unemployment fluctuations) in influencing the inflation rate. Consequently, demand shocks, supply shocks and inflation expectations are all potentially important determinants of inflation, confirming the basis of the older triangle model by Robert J. Gordon:

  • Demand shocks may both decrease and increase inflation. So-called demand-pull inflation may be caused by increases in aggregate demand due to increased private and government spending, etc. Conversely, negative demand shocks may be caused by contractionary economic policy.
  • Supply shocks may also lead to both higher or lower inflation, depending on the character of the shock. Cost-push inflation is caused by a drop in aggregate supply (potential output). This may be due to natural disasters, war or increased prices of inputs. For example, a sudden decrease in the supply of oil, leading to increased oil prices, can cause cost-push inflation. Producers for whom oil is a part of their costs could then pass this on to consumers in the form of increased prices.
  • Inflation expectations play a major role in forming actual inflation. High inflation can prompt employees to demand rapid wage increases to keep up with consumer prices. In this way, rising wages in turn can help fuel inflation as firms pass these higher labor costs on to their customers as higher prices, leading to a feedback loop. In the case of collective bargaining, wage growth may be set as a function of inflationary expectations, which will be higher when inflation is high. This can cause a wage-price spiral. In a sense, inflation begets further inflationary expectations, which beget further (built-in) inflation.

The important role of rational expectations is recognized by the emphasis on credibility on the part of central banks and other policy-makers. The monetarist assertion that monetary policy alone could successfully control inflation formed part of the new consensus which recognized that both monetary and fiscal policy are important tools for influencing aggregate demand. Indeed, monetary policy is under normal circumstances considered to be the preferable instrument to contain inflation. At the same time, most central banks have abandoned trying to target money growth as originally advocated by the monetarists. Instead, most central banks in developed countries focus on adjusting interest rates to achieve an explicit inflation target. The reason for central bank reluctance in following money growth targets is that the money stock measures that central banks can control tightly, e.g. the monetary base, are not very closely linked to aggregate demand, whereas conversely money supply measures like M2, which are in some cases more closely correlated with aggregate demand, are difficult to control for the central bank. Also, in many countries the relationship between aggregate demand and all money stock measures have broken down in recent decades, weakening further the case for monetary policy rules focusing on the money supply.

However, while more disputed in the 1970s, surveys of members of the American Economic Association (AEA) since the 1990s have shown that most professional American economists generally agree with the statement "Inflation is caused primarily by too much growth in the money supply", while the same surveys have shown a lack of consensus by AEA members since the 1990s that "In the short run, a reduction in unemployment causes the rate of inflation to increase" has developed despite more agreement with the statement in the 1970s.

Housing shortages and climate change have both been cited as significant drivers of inflation in the 21st century.

2021–2022 inflation spike

Main article: 2021–2022 inflation spike

In 2021–2022, most countries experienced a considerable increase in inflation, peaking in 2022 and declining in 2023. The causes are believed to be a mixture of demand and supply shocks, whereas inflation expectations generally seem to remain anchored (as per May 2023). Possible causes on the demand side include expansionary fiscal and monetary policy in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, whereas supply shocks include supply chain problems also caused by the pandemic and exacerbated by energy price rises following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The term sellers' inflation was coined during this period to describe the effect of corporate profits as a possible cause of inflation: Price inelasticity can contribute to inflation when firms consolidate, tending to support monopoly or monopsony conditions anywhere along the supply chain for goods or services. When this occurs, firms can provide greater shareholder value by taking a larger proportion of profits than by investing in providing greater volumes of their outputs. Shortly after initial energy price shocks caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine had subsided, oil companies found that supply chain constrictions, already exacerbated by the ongoing global pandemic, supported price inelasticity, i.e., they began lowering prices to match the price of oil when it fell much more slowly than they had increased their prices when costs rose.

The quantity theory of money has long been popular with libertarian-conservative critics of the Federal Reserve. During the COVID pandemic and its immediate aftermath, the M2 money supply increased at the fastest rate in decades, leading some to link the growth to the 2021-2023 inflation surge. Fed chairman Jerome Powell said in December 2021 that the once-strong link between the money supply and inflation "ended about 40 years ago," due to financial innovations and deregulation. Previous Fed chairs Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan, had previously concurred with this position. The broadest measure of money supply, M3, increased about 45% from 2010 through 2015, far faster than GDP growth, yet the inflation rate declined during that period — the opposite of what monetarism would have predicted. A lower velocity of money than was historically the case was also cited for a diminished effect of growth in the money supply on inflation.

Heterodox views

Additionally, there are theories about inflation accepted by economists outside of the mainstream. The Austrian School stresses that inflation is not uniform over all assets, goods, and services. Inflation depends on differences in markets and on where newly created money and credit enter the economy. Ludwig von Mises said that inflation should refer to an increase in the quantity of money, that is not offset by a corresponding increase in the need for money, and that price inflation will necessarily follow, always leaving a poorer nation.

Effects of inflation

General effect

Restaurant increasing prices by $1.00 due to inflation

Inflation is the decrease in the purchasing power of a currency. That is, when the general level of prices rise, each monetary unit can buy fewer goods and services in aggregate. The effect of inflation differs on different sectors of the economy, with some sectors being adversely affected while others benefitting. For example, with inflation, those segments in society which own physical assets, such as property, stock etc., benefit from the price/value of their holdings going up, when those who seek to acquire them will need to pay more for them. Their ability to do so will depend on the degree to which their income is fixed. For example, increases in payments to workers and pensioners often lag behind inflation, and for some people income is fixed. Also, individuals or institutions with cash assets will experience a decline in the purchasing power of the cash. Increases in the price level (inflation) erode the real value of money (the functional currency) and other items with an underlying monetary nature.

Debtors who have debts with a fixed nominal rate of interest will see a reduction in the "real" interest rate as the inflation rate rises. The real interest on a loan is the nominal rate minus the inflation rate. The formula R = N-I approximates the correct answer as long as both the nominal interest rate and the inflation rate are small. The correct equation is r = n/i where r, n and i are expressed as ratios (e.g. 1.2 for +20%, 0.8 for −20%). As an example, when the inflation rate is 3%, a loan with a nominal interest rate of 5% would have a real interest rate of approximately 2% (in fact, it's 1.94%). Any unexpected increase in the inflation rate would decrease the real interest rate. Banks and other lenders adjust for this inflation risk either by including an inflation risk premium to fixed interest rate loans, or lending at an adjustable rate.

Negative

High or unpredictable inflation rates are regarded as harmful to an overall economy. They add inefficiencies in the market, and make it difficult for companies to budget or plan long-term. Inflation can act as a drag on productivity as companies are forced to shift resources away from products and services to focus on profit and losses from currency inflation. Uncertainty about the future purchasing power of money discourages investment and saving. Inflation hurts asset prices such as stock performance in the short-run, as it erodes non-energy corporates' profit margins and leads to central banks' policy tightening measures. Inflation can also impose hidden tax increases. For instance, inflated earnings push taxpayers into higher income tax rates unless the tax brackets are indexed to inflation.

With high inflation, purchasing power is redistributed from those on fixed nominal incomes, such as some pensioners whose pensions are not indexed to the price level, towards those with variable incomes whose earnings may better keep pace with the inflation. This redistribution of purchasing power will also occur between international trading partners. Where fixed exchange rates are imposed, higher inflation in one economy than another will cause the first economy's exports to become more expensive and affect the balance of trade. There can also be negative effects to trade from an increased instability in currency exchange prices caused by unpredictable inflation.

Hoarding
People buy durable and/or non-perishable commodities and other goods as stores of wealth, to avoid the losses expected from the declining purchasing power of money, creating shortages of the hoarded goods.
Social unrest and revolts
Inflation can lead to massive demonstrations and revolutions. For example, inflation and in particular food inflation is considered one of the main reasons that caused the 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution and the 2011 Egyptian revolution, according to many observers including Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank. Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was also ousted after only 18 days of demonstrations, and protests soon spread in many countries of North Africa and Middle East.
Hyperinflation
If inflation becomes too high, it can cause people to severely curtail their use of the currency, leading to an acceleration in the inflation rate. High and accelerating inflation grossly interferes with the normal workings of the economy, hurting its ability to supply goods. Hyperinflation can lead people to abandon the use of the country's currency in favour of external currencies (dollarization), as has been reported to have occurred in North Korea.
Corruption
Due to a high rise of inflation, it has been seen to affect unemployment levels around the world. From 2005 to 2019, it was found that the wellbeing costs of unemployment was 5 times higher than inflation. The trust between the central banks and individuals has become more limited. According to the Global Labor Organization (GLO), a global sample of 1.5 million observations during the 1999 and 2012 found a negative relationship of ECB unemployment between countries of Spain, Ireland, Greece, and Portugal a financial crisis. Lack of trust is shown between the government and political institutions which potentially, this can create bias towards both sides as unemployment rate will still increase. If the rate goes on, predictions of the economic activity may decrease, and investments from around the world will soon slowdown creating an "economy crash" that can affect millions of peoples' living.
Allocative efficiency
A change in the supply or demand for a good will normally cause its relative price to change, signaling the buyers and sellers that they should re-allocate resources in response to the new market conditions. But when prices are constantly changing due to inflation, price changes due to genuine relative price signals are difficult to distinguish from price changes due to general inflation, so agents are slow to respond to them. The result is a loss of allocative efficiency.
Shoe leather cost
High inflation increases the opportunity cost of holding cash balances and can induce people to hold a greater portion of their assets in interest paying accounts. However, since cash is still needed to carry out transactions this means that more "trips to the bank" are necessary to make withdrawals, proverbially wearing out the "shoe leather" with each trip.
Menu cost
Low-cost price adjustment
With high inflation, firms must change their prices often to keep up with economy-wide changes. But often changing prices is itself a costly activity whether explicitly, as with the need to print new menus, or implicitly, as with the extra time and effort needed to change prices constantly.
Tax
Inflation serves as a hidden tax on currency holdings.

Positive

Labour-market adjustments
Nominal wages are slow to adjust downward. This can lead to prolonged disequilibrium and high unemployment in the labor market. Since inflation allows real wages to fall even if nominal wages are kept constant, moderate inflation enables labor markets to reach equilibrium faster.
Room to maneuver
The primary tools for controlling the money supply are the ability to set the discount rate, the rate at which banks can borrow from the central bank, and open market operations, which are the central bank's interventions into the bonds market with the aim of affecting the nominal interest rate. If an economy finds itself in a recession with already low, or even zero, nominal interest rates, then the bank cannot cut these rates further (since negative nominal interest rates are impossible) to stimulate the economy – this situation is known as a liquidity trap.
Mundell–Tobin effect
According to the Mundell–Tobin effect, an increase in inflation leads to an increase in capital investment, which leads to an increase in growth. The Nobel laureate Robert Mundell noted that moderate inflation would induce savers to substitute lending for some money holding as a means to finance future spending. That substitution would cause market clearing real interest rates to fall. The lower real rate of interest would induce more borrowing to finance investment. In a similar vein, Nobel laureate James Tobin noted that such inflation would cause businesses to substitute investment in physical capital (plant, equipment, and inventories) for money balances in their asset portfolios. That substitution would mean choosing the making of investments with lower rates of real return. (The rates of return are lower because the investments with higher rates of return were already being made before.) The two related effects are known as the Mundell–Tobin effect. Unless the economy is already overinvesting according to models of economic growth theory, that extra investment resulting from the effect would be seen as positive.
Instability with deflation
Economist S.C. Tsiang noted that once substantial deflation is expected, two important effects will appear; both a result of money holding substituting for lending as a vehicle for saving. The first was that continually falling prices and the resulting incentive to hoard money will cause instability resulting from the likely increasing fear, while money hoards grow in value, that the value of those hoards are at risk, as people realize that a movement to trade those money hoards for real goods and assets will quickly drive those prices up. Any movement to spend those hoards "once started would become a tremendous avalanche, which could rampage for a long time before it would spend itself." Thus, a regime of long-term deflation is likely to be interrupted by periodic spikes of rapid inflation and consequent real economic disruptions. The second effect noted by Tsiang is that when savers have substituted money holding for lending on financial markets, the role of those markets in channeling savings into investment is undermined. With nominal interest rates driven to zero, or near zero, from the competition with a high return money asset, there would be no price mechanism in whatever is left of those markets. With financial markets effectively euthanized, the remaining goods and physical asset prices would move in perverse directions. For example, an increased desire to save could not push interest rates further down (and thereby stimulate investment) but would instead cause additional money hoarding, driving consumer prices further down and making investment in consumer goods production thereby less attractive. Moderate inflation, once its expectation is incorporated into nominal interest rates, would give those interest rates room to go both up and down in response to shifting investment opportunities, or savers' preferences, and thus allow financial markets to function in a more normal fashion.

Cost-of-living allowance

See also: Cost of living

The real purchasing power of fixed payments is eroded by inflation unless they are inflation-adjusted to keep their real values constant. In many countries, employment contracts, pension benefits, and government entitlements (such as social security) are tied to a cost-of-living index, typically to the consumer price index. A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) adjusts salaries based on changes in a cost-of-living index. It does not control inflation, but rather seeks to mitigate the consequences of inflation for those on fixed incomes. Salaries are typically adjusted annually in low inflation economies. During hyperinflation they are adjusted more often. They may also be tied to a cost-of-living index that varies by geographic location if the employee moves.

Annual escalation clauses in employment contracts can specify retroactive or future percentage increases in worker pay which are not tied to any index. These negotiated increases in pay are colloquially referred to as cost-of-living adjustments ("COLAs") or cost-of-living increases because of their similarity to increases tied to externally determined indexes.

Controlling inflation

Monetary policy is the policy enacted by the monetary authorities (most frequently the central bank of a nation) to accomplish their objectives. Among these, keeping inflation at a low and stable level is often a prominent objective, either directly via inflation targeting or indirectly, e.g. via a fixed exchange rate against a low-inflation currency area.

Historical approaches to inflation control

Historically, central banks and governments have followed various policies to achieve low inflation, employing various nominal anchors. Before World War I, the gold standard was prevalent, but was eventually found to be detrimental to economic stability and employment, not least during the Great Depression in the 1930s. For the first decades after World War II, the Bretton Woods system initiated a fixed exchange rate system for most developed countries, tying their currencies to the US dollar, which again was directly convertible to gold. The system disintegrated in the 1970s, however, after which the major currencies started floating against each other. During the 1970s many central banks turned to a money supply target recommended by Milton Friedman and other monetarists, aiming for a stable growth rate of money to control inflation. However, it was found to be impractical because of the unstable relationship between monetary aggregates and other macroeconomic variables, and was eventually abandoned by all major economies. In 1990, New Zealand as the first country ever adopted an official inflation target as the basis of its monetary policy, continually adjusting interest rates to steer the country's inflation rate towards its official target. The strategy was generally considered to work well, and central banks in most developed countries have over the years adapted a similar strategy. As of 2023, the central banks of all G7 member countries can be said to follow an inflation target, including the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve, who have adopted the main elements of inflation targeting without officially calling themselves inflation targeters. In emerging countries fixed exchange rate regimes are still the most common monetary policy.

Inflation targeting

Main article: Inflation targeting
The U.S. effective federal funds rate charted over fifty years

From its first inception in New Zealand in 1990, direct inflation targeting as a monetary policy strategy has spread to become prevalent among developed countries. The basic idea is that the central bank perpetually adjusts interest rates to steer the country's inflation rate towards its official target. Via the monetary transmission mechanism interest rate changes affect aggregate demand in various ways, causing output and employment to respond. Changes in employment and unemployment rates affect wage setting, leading to larger or smaller wage increases, depending on the direction of the interest rate adjustment. A changed rate of wage increases will transmit into changes in price setting – i.e. a change in the inflation rate. The relation between (un)employment and inflation is known as the Phillips curve.

In most OECD countries, the inflation target is usually about 2% to 3% (in developing countries like Armenia, the inflation target is higher, at around 4%). Low (as opposed to zero or negative) inflation reduces the severity of economic recessions by enabling the labor market to adjust more quickly in a downturn, and reduces the risk that a liquidity trap prevents monetary policy from stabilizing the economy.

Fixed exchange rates

Main article: Fixed exchange rate system

Under a fixed exchange rate currency regime, a country's currency is tied in value to another single currency or to a basket of other currencies. A fixed exchange rate is usually used to stabilize the value of a currency, vis-a-vis the currency it is pegged to. It can also be used as a means to control inflation if the currency area tied to itself maintains low and stable inflation. However, as the value of the reference currency rises and falls, so does the currency pegged to it. This essentially means that the inflation rate in the fixed exchange rate country is determined by the inflation rate of the country the currency is pegged to. In addition, a fixed exchange rate prevents a government from using domestic monetary policy to achieve macroeconomic stability.

As of 2023, Denmark is the only OECD country which maintains a fixed exchange rate (against the euro), but it is frequently used as a monetary policy strategy in developing countries.

Gold standard

Main article: Gold standard
Two 20 krona gold coins from the Scandinavian Monetary Union, a historical example of an international gold standard

The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common medium of exchange is paper notes (or other monetary token) that are normally freely convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold. The standard specifies how the gold backing would be implemented, including the amount of specie per currency unit. The currency itself has no innate value but is accepted by traders because it can be redeemed for the equivalent value of the commodity (specie). A U.S. silver certificate, for example, could be redeemed for an actual piece of silver.

Under a gold standard, the long term rate of inflation (or deflation) would be determined by the growth rate of the supply of gold relative to total output. Critics argue that this will cause arbitrary fluctuations in the inflation rate, and that monetary policy would essentially be determined by an intersection of however much new gold was produced by mining and changing demand for gold for practical uses. The gold standard was historically found to make it more difficult to stabilize employment levels and avoid recessions and was eventually abandoned everywhere.

Wage and price controls

See also: Incomes policy

Another method attempted in the past have been wage and price controls ("incomes policies"). Temporary price controls may be used as a complement to other policies to fight inflation; price controls may make disinflation faster, while reducing the need for unemployment to reduce inflation. If price controls are used during a recession, the kinds of distortions that price controls cause may be lessened. However, economists generally advise against the imposition of price controls.

Wage and price controls, in combination with rationing, have been used successfully in wartime environments. However, their use in other contexts is far more mixed. Notable failures of their use include the 1972 imposition of wage and price controls by Richard Nixon. More successful examples include the Prices and Incomes Accord in Australia and the Wassenaar Agreement in the Netherlands.

In general, wage and price controls are regarded as a temporary and exceptional measures, only effective when coupled with policies designed to reduce the underlying causes of inflation during the wage and price control regime, for example, winning the war being fought.

See also

Notes

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