Inflation Central :: Inflation-Related Articles

Title Date Publication Authors
Do energy price spikes cause inflation?
Apr-01-2003 Economic Commentary Humpage, Owen F./Pelz, Eduard
Many people mistakenly believe that a sharp rise in the price of energy is necessarily inflationary. They fail to understand that energy prices adjust with the demand and supply of energy, whereas inflation responds to the demand and supply of money. This Economic Commentary explains that the Federal Reserve can do nothing about relative energy prices, but can determine how relative energy price shocks are reflected in the overall level of prices. Over the last twenty years, the inflationary consequences of energy price shocks, while significant, have been fairly subdued.

Dollar Depreciation and Inflation
April 2005 Article  
The dollar's depreciation need not generate inflation; that depends on U.S. monetary policy.

Expected inflation and TIPS
Nov-01-2004 Economic Commentary Carlstrom, Charles T./Fuerst, Timothy S.
When inflation-indexed Treasury securities were first introduced, economists hoped that they could be used to measure expected inflation easily. The only difference between securities that were indexed to inflation and those that were not was thought to be the extra compensation regular securities had to pay for what the market thought inflation would be. By now it is pretty clear that inflation-indexed Treasuries differ from regular securities in other ways that show up in the yields. This Commentary suggests what these are and discusses a method of correcting for them.

What is the right inflation rate?
Sep-15-2003 Economic Commentary Altig, David
The primary objective of most of the world's central banks these days is to keep inflation low, and the range of inflation rates banks find acceptable appears to be around 2.5 to 3.5 percent. While banks may have hit on this range through trial and error, economic theory and empirical observations suggest a good reason for it.