Inflation is generally controlled by the Central Bank and/or the government. The main policy used is monetary policy (changing interest rates). However, in theory, there are a variety of tools to control inflation including: Monetary policy – Higher interest rates reduce demand in the economy, leading to lower economic growth and lower inflation. Control of …
Reader’s Question: Why does printing money cause inflation? Does this always occur? Summary If the money supply increases faster than output then, ceteris paribus, inflation will occur. If a government prints extra money, households will have more cash and more money to spend on goods. But, if the amount of goods stays the same, the …
The UK has avoided any situation of hyperinflation. The highest rates of inflation were after the Napoleonic War in the early nineteenth century. During the First World war (25%) and in the 1970s where inflation rose due to a rise in oil prices and strong wage growth. After the late 1980s inflation was brought under …
“By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily,” John Maynard Keynes, “The economic consequences of the peace” Inflation tax is an implicit tax on nominal assets, such as cash, bonds and …
Reader’s Question: Why Does Inflation Make it Easier for Governments to pay back the debt? The big fall in national debt as % of GDP occurred during relatively high inflation periods of 50s, 60s, and 70s. The 1920s and 30s were a period of deflation and high debt. There are a few reasons inflation …
Readers Question: would you please explain to me how we can have no inflation, or low inflation if the government injects two or three trillion dollars in the US economy and output falls? This is an interesting question. Although printing more money tends to cause inflation, there are circumstances where you can increase the money …
Inflation measures how much the price of goods and services have increased over a period of time; and will have a significant impact on changes in the cost of living. An inflation rate of 5% means that on average the typical household basket of goods (e.g. food, TVs) and services (haircut, restaurant meal) is 5% …
Inflation means there is a sustained increase in the price level. The main causes of inflation are either excess aggregate demand (AD) (economic growth too fast) or cost-push factors (supply-side factors). Summary of the main causes of inflation Demand-pull inflation – aggregate demand growing faster than aggregate supply (growth too rapid) Cost-push inflation – For …