The longer inflation stays high, the likelier this is. At a certain point the excuses for inflation’s persistence will wear thin—even if they are valid. The public will simply lose confidence in the Fed.

Economists and the public have very different views on the question

But it is still worth keeping an eye on

In 1975 Adam Fergusson, a journalist on the Times, published a book called “When Money Dies”.

May 2nd 2019

Putting the macroeconomy under the microscope

The year 2007, when Emi Nakamura earned her phd, was a strange one for her chosen discipline of macroeconomics.

China’s official figures both understate and overstate inflation

IS CHINA’S economy underheating? Not long ago, many people would have scoffed at the suggestion. The country is known for searing property prices, hot-money inflows and the steam escaping from its financial furnaces.

Other forms of government spending are presumably similar

A WHILE back I noted a post by a major tea-party figure eagerly supporting the bog-standard mainstream economic assumption that higher government spending creates higher economic output.

Sticky situations

FROM Washington to Wellington price stability is the desire of central bankers. Many of them have it, more or less: consumer-price inflation is 2.1% in America, 1.6% in the euro area, 2.4% in Britain and 0.6% in Japan.