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Economic Definition of stagflation. Defined.

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Term stagflation Definition: High inflation rates at the same time the economy has high unemployment rates. Throughout much of the economic history of the good old U. S. of A., we've seen a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. During an expansion, inflation is usually higher and unemployment is lower. The opposite has tended to occur during a recession. In the 1970s, however, inflation worsened at the same time the economy dropped into a recession. This led economists not only to coin the term stagflation (stagnation + inflation), but also to reevaluate the existing explanation of how the economy works.


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