I disagree with this statement. I don’t think that inflation is always bad for the economy, because inflation can in time lead to deflation. An example of the effect of inflation would be consumers spending less money when prices are constantly rising, because they would rather buy the items now and spend less money than purchasing them in the future. Even though deflation is normally considered a negative thing, it’s not always bad either. Good inflation is something that happens when companies can manufacture good at lower cost without losing revenue or raising unemployment. One way that the government can increase deflation is by putting more money into supply by purchasing securities. In the end, both inflation and deflation are both parts
But as we know, there is always going to be one or the other. The reason that an economy is thrown out of equilibrium in the first place is a result of consumer spending habits. If these habits are changed, there is a result is one of two things. If consumers increase there spending habits, an inflationary gap occurs. At the opposite end of the spectrum, if consumers were to reduce their spending, the result is a recessionary gap. Inflation occurs when the economy is growing uncontrollably fast as a result of consumer spending. This rapid rate of inflation happens when consumers are spending money due to increases in income. When consumers spend more, this increases the overall price level, which therefore leads to a further increase in income. This cycle is what leads to over-inflation. One of two things can be done when an economy is experiencing an economic gap, whether it is above or below the trend line. Option one is to do nothing about it and let the problem work itself out. The problem with this method is that in order for a recession to work itself out without government assistance, this requires that workers take pay cuts – something that a very low percentage of people are accepting of simply due to the personal
not be as high above, or even above where the supply is, therefore reducing the
If inflation rate is high the base rate might increase and more people will decide to save money than spend which could decrease demand and retailers decide not to increase prices so inflation rate slowly goes. My view of
Reviewing the articles assigned, Hoskins and Aiyagari provide their stance on a zero inflation objective to achieve price stability and refer to one another’s viewpoints. Hoskins is an advocate while Aiyagari is not. Hoskins’ stance is based on three main reasons: the Central Bank has control over the price level of goods and services over time but no control over the growth of output, if the commitment by the Central Bank is seen as credible it can promote economic efficiency and growth, and zero inflation is better than inflation rate stability. The article is a mix of his viewpoints and response to critics, such as Aiyagari. Both provide decent arguments; however, I tend to find Aiyagari’ s more convincing overall as his arguments seemed more logical and factually based. Hoskins’ refutes did not seem terribly substantiated or
“The positive labor market results that policymakers are hoping for” are points such as “Raising minimum wage encourages harder workers” and that an increase will “stimulate the economy by putting more money into the hands of employees for them to be able to spend more” which cannot be done, however, with inflation, because everything continues to get more expensive.
Many programs that were created during The Great Depression are beginning to haunt our governmental institution even today. Programs such as Social Security and the Welfare systems are creating a substantial amount of debt within our country. According to the article titled “Perils of Price Deflations,” “Two decades ago, worrying about deflation was like worrying about a shortage of pigeons in Trafalgar Square. But now that inflation rates are near zero, periodic deflations are much more plausible” (Carlstrom 1). Deflation has many negative effects. Within Charles Calstrom’s article he names three “dangers of deflation” (1). The first is nominal interest rates. These cannot fall below zero percent and therefore, deflations can increase real interest rates. These high rates discourage investment spending and decrease economic activity. The second is that employers are unable to reduce nominal wages so deflations increase the real wage discouraging employment growth. The last is that these effects can lead to large redistributions of wealth” (Carlstrom 1). In an ideal economy supply equals demand in both work and goods, however, especially in times of economic difficulty this ratio becomes very skewed. Thus resulting in high prices of goods. Often the most negative effect is the redistribution of wealth that follows deflation. “Shocks that
using a price index measure a change in it. The basket of good has a
It widely recognized that the monetary policy within a country should be primarily concerned with the pursuit of price stability. However, it is still not clear how this objective can be achieved most effectively. This debate remains unsettled, but an increasing number of countries have adopted inflation targeting as their monetary policy framework. (Dr E J van der Merwe, 2002) This topic of Inflation targeting is a subject which immediately conjures different perceptions from different people. Many feel that low inflation should be a main aim of monetary policy, while others (such as trade union activists) believe that a higher growth rate to stimulate jobs should be the main concern.
Money Supply plays an important role in macroeconomic analysis, especially in selecting an appropriate monetary and fiscal policy. Considerably, I am yet to come across theoretical work that has been done on this topic (analysis money supply and its impact on other variable i.e. inflation, interest rate, real GDP and nominal GDP). However some other topics similar to this one have been done by AL-SHARKAS, Adel, where he uses the same technique and models on the topic ‘out put response to shocks to interest rate, inflation and stock returns. His work investigates the relationship between the Jordanian output and other macroeconomics variables such as inflation, interest rate and stock returns. His paper employs the VAR approach method of Lee (1992) to analyze the relation and dynamic interaction among variables. The IRF and the FEVD from the VAR model are computed in order to investigate interrelationships within the system. The empirical results indicate that Interest rate and inflation are weakly negatively correlated and real stock returns and inflation is very weakly positively correlated for all leads and lags are negatively associated. Furthermore, the response of output (IPG) to shocks in stock returns (R1) is strongly positive up to the first 6 periods and after which the effect almost dies. This indicates that the relationship between stocks returns (R1) and real activity (IPG) is positive and inflation has a negative impact on IPG (Adel A. Al-Sharkas 2004).
Interest rates and the effects of interest rates on the economy concern not only macroeconomists but consumers, savers, borrowers, and lenders. A country may react and change their interest rates, according to the prosperity of their economy. Interest rates, is the percentage usually on an annual basis that is paid by the borrower to the lender for a loan of money (Merriam-Webster). If banks decided not to use interest rates, it would be impossible for others to be able to take out loans and therefore, there would be far less spending money in the economy. With interest rates, this allows banks to take a percentage of the consumer’s money and loan it out to others, thus allowing economic growth to be possible. Interest rates also allow lenders to have a “safety net” which is necessary because there is a possibility that the borrower would be unable to pay back a loan to the bank. A nation’s interest rates can be raised or lowered and these shifts in interest rates correlate directly to aggregate demand. Aggregate demand, is the total demand for final goods and services in an economy at a given time (Business Dictionary). A nation uses interest rates for economic growth or to help prevent inflation. When economic growth is needed a nation would lower their interest rates. However, if a country is concerned about inflation, they may choose to raise their interest rates. When interest rates, raised or lowered, will have a negative or positive impact on consumers, and have a positive or negative impact on investors.
Inflation and unemployment are two key elements when evaluating a whole economy and it is also easy to get those figures from National Bureau of Statistics when you want to evaluate it. However, the relationship between them is a controversial topic, which has been debated by economists for decades. From some famous economists such as Paul Samuelson, Milton Freidman etc to some infamous economists, this topic received a lot of attention. However, it is this debate that makes the thinking about it evolve. In this essay, the controversial topic will be discussed by viewing different economists’ opinions on that according to time sequencing. But before started, it is worthy getting a better understanding of the terms, inflation and unemployment.
Inflation is defined as an increase in the expected price level and has been the signal for an improving economy, but it has also weakened an economy due to the unemployment it usually produces which usually hurts the Middle class the most. A healthy rate of inflation means an expanding economy due to higher tax revenues for the government and higher wages for businesses that are booming due to the high demand of their products. But if inflation surpasses of what is expected than employer will have to reduce wages to meet these new prices. When the Federal Reserve creates inflation most argue that this is robbing people of the money that they have saved because they have to use it due to the rise in prices. Printing
Are the people living now happier than those who grew up in the past? Our money system relies on a constant increase in money circulation. The everyday needs were met in the seventies just like they are now. The only difference now is that everything people want or need is reached on a much larger scale because our economy is always trying to keep up with the debt. When the flow of money slows down the banks crave a new alternative to quench its never ending thirst for more. The people are the ones who have to meet the quota or they will suffer. This is a problem because it forces people to basically need money in order to survive in present day. It causes money to almost be a part of them and that is not natural to the human soul. When something unnatural becomes part of a human it can have a negative outcome on their actions. Another way to look at is if humans are born to survive the challenges they face then they will do anything to gain money because it is simply a way to survive. This is why money was able to transform into an empire that needs to keep growing to provide better protection for all the people part of it. Empires have to meet certain requirements to continue functioning. In order for the current money system to work it requires debt, new categories where money can exist, and the constant use of the world’s resources.
Inflation; ‘a situation in which prices rise in order to keep up with increased production costs… result[ing] [in] the purchasing power of money fall[ing]’ (Collin:101) is quickly becoming a problem for the government of the United Kingdom in these post-recession years. The economic recovery, essential to the wellbeing of the British economy, may be in jeopardy as inflation continues to rise, reducing the purchasing power of the public. This, in turn, reduces demand for goods and services, and could potentially plummet the UK back into recession. This essay discusses the causes of inflation, policy options available to the UK government and the Bank of England (the central bank of the UK responsible for monetary policy), and the effects they may potentially have on the UK recovery.
This is especially harmful to people on a fixed income. Sometimes high inflation can also discourage business activity which can just become too costly. An example of this is the FED, the American government bank which keeps interest rates low to help control inflation. Additional to these is the Economic Efficiency goal, American believed that because resources are scarce, the factors of production must be used wisely. If resources are wasted fewer goods can be produced, and fewer wants