In the 20 years before the Act, annual real GDP growth averaged 2.2 percent while annual inflation was volatile around an average of 11.4 percent. Since 1990, annual inflation and real GDP growth have averaged 2.3 and 2.6 percent respectively and there has been a marked decline in inflation variability.
Like many of you, I often get asked if what we are seeing is “normal”, “the new normal”, “the old normal” or is it something different? In many areas of life our perceptions of what is normal are crucial to how we feel about what is going on around us.