INFLATION – Multi-Dimensional Confusion

Jon Economy, Energy, Health Care, Market Commentary

The old idea that inflation is created by an increase in money supply has distorted the minds of many people. Inflation is caused by numerous factors for it is not a one-dimensional aspect. For example, the current bird flu has rendered half of the egg production to be worthless, which has sent egg prices soaring. This has nothing to do with the quantity of money. So obviously, a decline in the supply of some service or commodity can also lead to rising prices.
Then there can be cost-push inflation as we saw during the 1970s due to OPEC. The first OPEC price shock was October 1973 from where we should see the next low in 2016 (43 years later). The sudden rise in oil sent a shockwave through the economy, driving up prices because the entire economy had to readjust to higher energy. This was not the result of an increase in demand nor an increase in the money supply.

This post was published at Armstrong Economics on August 10, 2015.