(Some observers would of course argue that both the low growth and the high inflation of the 1970s and 1980s were caused by outside factors such as various supply side shocks. Correlation doesn't prove causality.
And so the debate will continue…) Pursuing this line of reasoning further, a number of studies covering a large number of countries have been done, inter alia by IMF officials, to estimate the rate of inflation above which the distortions introduced by inflation really start to drag the real growth rate of the economy down. Not surprisingly, these studies come up with different answers.