Case for inflation panic has 'died,' Paul Krugman argues

"The case for inflation panic" has "died," economist Paul Krugman argued in a Saturday morning Twitter thread.

Krugman writes that the fears stemmed in part from a belief that the Federal Reserve's "intellectual framework," which includes making a distinction between "volatile commodity prices" and "inertial core inflation," was wrong and the central bank was failing to consider that soaring lumber prices, for example, were "harbingers" rather than "transitory shocks." But Krugman pointed to a swift decline in lumber prices since they peaked in May as evidence to dismiss that theory, and highlighted a recent analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers that makes a similar case.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.