A macroeconomist walks into a bar fight
Economic stimulus checks Jeff Fusco/Getty Images hide caption
Economic stimulus checks
Jeff Fusco/Getty ImagesWelcome to the world of macroeconomic bar fights. Today, the heavyweights are throwing fists over the cause of inflation. And, there are a ton of potential culprits: the war in Ukraine, low interest rates, new coronavirus variants, lockdowns in China...
But off to the corner stands John Cochrane, the Grumpy Economist, with a core explanation: government borrowing and spending.
Check out some of our earlier episodes on inflation:
- Why some economists last year were concerned about low interest rates and high government borrowing and spending
- Why the term 'transitory' inflation was banned by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta as consumers spent and spent in 2021
- How the war in Ukraine raises prices around the world, including food prices, and a look at grain exports stuck in the country
- Whether corporate greed is to blame for inflation
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