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inflation

  • SOURCE: Foreign Policy
    8/27/2022

    Is Jerome Powell Following History to Fight Inflation?

    by Adam Tooze

    Jerome Powell has drawn history into his public rationale for raising interest rates, arguing that his Fed won't repeat the problems of inaction of the 1970s. Is he risking a recession by ignoring the different causes of inflation today? 

  • SOURCE: TIME
    8/16/2022

    Historians on the Biden-Carter Comparison

    by Olivia B. Waxman

    Meg Jacobs, Gregory Brew and Kai Bird discuss the similar economic and international contexts of the two presidencies, and suggest that Biden may, like Carter, ultimately be more effective than he is given credit for. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    8/11/2022

    Treating Citizens as Consumers Results in One-Sided Fed Decisions

    by Suzanne Kahn

    A set of political choices over the course of the 20th century placed the concerns of consumers over those of workers. While most Americans fit both roles, this priority leaves a great deal of racial inequality in place. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    8/9/2022

    How to Fight Inflation Without Interest Rate Hikes and Recession

    by Meg Jacobs and Isabella M. Weber

    The history of World War II price controls shows that it is possible to fight inflation without imposing recession, if controls are targeted and backed by concerted effort to win political support. 

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    2/7/2022

    The Economy is Good, Actually

    by Zachary D. Carter

    An economic historian says that the recovery from the pandemic is historically good in terms of the share of gains going to low-income workers, but the politics are not working in the Democrats' favor. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    11/29/2021

    Can Biden Avoid Carter's Biggest Blunder?

    by Meg Jacobs

    “I’ll give it to you straight,” Carter said. “Each one of us will have to use less oil and pay more for it.” This arguably sensible position was disastrous politics. Can Biden do more to encourage conservation while acknowledging the economic pain fuel prices inflict?

  • SOURCE: Democracy
    8/31/2021

    Wartime Wisdom to Combat Inflation

    by David Stein

    Today, monetary policy controlled by the Federal Reserve is the only tool commonly used to control inflation, pitting controlling prices against full employment and wage growth. The history of the World War II Office of Price Administration reveals other possibilities. 

  • SOURCE: Project Syndicate
    8/31/2021

    Back to the Seventies?

    by Kenneth Rogoff

    Problems of political economy complicate the job central bankers face in setting interest rates. From international relations to domestic politics to an aging population, an economist considers the similarities and differences between now and the 1970s. 

  • SOURCE: Boston Review
    8/19/2021

    The Real Political Danger of Inflation

    by Andrew Elrod

    Democrats have not lost elections because of inflation, but because they have imagined austerity politics as the only solution to inflation. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    5/25/2021

    What Scaremongering About Inflation Gets Wrong

    by Rebecca L. Spang

    Inflation has become a subject of political dread as Americans have shifted from seeing themselves as producers to seeing themselves as consumers. But historical perspective shows that policy picks winners and losers and is dependent on choices about what to measure and how.   

  • SOURCE: Worldpress Review
    2-1-13

    Evan A. Schnidman: When Will the U.S. Hit The 1947 Wall?

    Evan A. Schnidman is a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University studying how politics and finance play a role in central-bank decision making. He is also the founder and primary author of FedPlaybook.com, a central bank forecasting and analysis resource for investors.After a decade of financial struggle and a severe crisis in Europe that caused a massive ripple effect around the world, the United States found itself engaging in unprecedentedly loose monetary policy to finance public debt. You might have guessed I was describing the economy at the start of 2013, but despite financial prognostications that 2013 will be a good year for the U.S. economy, the parallels between the U.S. economy in 1947 and in 2013 are quite stark.The historyDuring and immediately after World War II, the Fed maintained extremely low interest rates in order to reduce war-financing costs for the government. As these policies became unnecessary and inflationary after the war, the Fed was compelled by the Treasury to maintain the low cost of debt. The result of this highly accommodating monetary policy was 14 percent inflation in 1947 and rising unemployment that persisted into the early 1950s....

  • Channelling George Washington: The Worthless Continental

    by Thomas Fleming

    A 1779 fifty-five dollar note printed by the Continental Congress. Via Wiki Commons."Welcome to the Continental Congress.""I'm not sure what you mean by that, Mr. President.""I mean we're on our way to a visit to the people who almost lost the American Revolution -- if we continue to try to maintain the illusion that our money has any value when the interest rate for borrowing it is zero and we try to solve our mounting debt problems by printing it by the billions.""Was that what happened to the Continental Congress?""Congress printed dollars at a fantastic rate in 1776. It seemed to work beautifully. They shipped it to the various states and they built forts, warships and mustered new regiments for the Continental Army. We were a dynamic new nation -- until we lost a couple of battles. Suddenly people started thinking that if we lost the war, these pieces of paper would be worth nothing. NOTHING. That's when our dollars started to depreciate.""How could you tell that was happening?"