The Phillips curve shows that historically, inflation and unemployment have had an inverse connection. High unemployment is associated with lower inflation or even deflation, whereas low unemployment is associated with lower inflation or even deflation. This relationship makes sense from a logical standpoint. When unemployment is low, more people have extra money to spend on things they want. Demand for commodities increases, and as demand increases, so do prices. Customers purchase less items during periods of high unemployment, putting downward pressure on pricing and lowering inflation.
When both inflation and unemployment are high at the same time, what do we call it?
Stagflation, sometimes known as recession-inflation, is a condition in which inflation is high, economic growth slows, and unemployment is consistently high. It creates a conundrum for policymakers, because efforts aimed at lowering inflation may aggravate unemployment.
Iain Macleod, a British Conservative Party politician who became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1970, is often credited with coining the word, which is a combination of stagnation and inflation. During an era of rising inflation and unemployment in the United Kingdom, Macleod used the term in a 1965 speech to Parliament. He warned the House of Commons about the seriousness of the situation, saying: “We now have the worst of both worldsnot just inflation on one hand, but also stagnation on the other. We’ve reached a point of’stagflation.’ And, in modern terms, history is being written.”
On 7 July 1970, Macleod used the term again, and the media began to use it as well, such as in The Economist on 15 August 1970 and Newsweek on 19 March 1973. Although John Maynard Keynes did not coin the phrase, some of his writings refer to the stagflationary conditions that most people are familiar with. Between the end of WWII and the late 1970s, the prevailing version of Keynesian macroeconomic theory held that inflation and recession were mutually exclusive, with the Phillips curve describing the link between the two. Stagflation is exceedingly expensive and difficult to stop once it begins, both in terms of social costs and budget deficits.
What can the government do to combat unemployment and inflation?
- Governments can fight inflation by imposing wage and price limits, but this can lead to a recession and job losses.
- Governments can also use a contractionary monetary policy to combat inflation by limiting the money supply in an economy by raising interest rates and lowering bond prices.
- Another measure used by governments to limit inflation is reserve requirements, which are the amounts of money banks are legally required to have on hand to cover withdrawals.
How do we keep inflation under control?
The Central Bank and/or the government are in charge of inflation. The most common policy is monetary policy (changing interest rates). However, there are a number of measures that can be used to control inflation in theory, including:
- Higher interest rates in the economy restrict demand, resulting in slower economic development and lower inflation.
- Limiting the money supply – Monetarists say that because the money supply and inflation are so closely linked, controlling the money supply can help control inflation.
- Supply-side strategies are those that aim to boost the economy’s competitiveness and efficiency while also lowering long-term expenses.
- A higher income tax rate could diminish expenditure, demand, and inflationary pressures.
- Wage limits – attempting to keep wages under control could theoretically assist to lessen inflationary pressures. However, it has only been used a few times since the 1970s.
Monetary Policy
During a period of high economic expansion, the economy’s demand may outpace its capacity to meet it. Firms respond to shortages by raising prices, resulting in inflationary pressures. This is referred to as demand-pull inflation. As a result, cutting aggregate demand (AD) growth should lessen inflationary pressures.
The Bank of England may raise interest rates. Borrowing becomes more expensive as interest rates rise, while saving becomes more appealing. Consumer spending and investment should expand at a slower pace as a result of this. More information about increasing interest rates can be found here.
A higher interest rate should result in a higher exchange rate, which reduces inflationary pressure by:
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, interest rates were raised in an attempt to keep inflation under control.
Inflation target
Many countries have an inflation target as part of their monetary policy (for example, the UK’s inflation target of 2%, +/-1). The premise is that if people believe the inflation objective is credible, inflation expectations will be reduced. It is simpler to manage inflation when inflation expectations are low.
Countries have also delegated monetary policymaking authority to the central bank. An independent Central Bank, the reasoning goes, will be free of political influences to set low interest rates ahead of an election.
Fiscal Policy
The government has the ability to raise taxes (such as income tax and VAT) while also reducing spending. This serves to lessen demand in the economy while also improving the government’s budget condition.
Both of these measures cut inflation by lowering aggregate demand growth. Reduced AD growth can lessen inflationary pressures without producing a recession if economic growth is rapid.
Reduced aggregate demand would be more unpleasant if a country had high inflation and negative growth, as lower inflation would lead to lower output and increased unemployment. They could still lower inflation, but at a considerably higher cost to the economy.
Wage Control
Limiting pay growth can help to lower inflation if wage inflation is the source (e.g., powerful unions bargaining for higher real wages). Lower wage growth serves to mitigate demand-pull inflation by reducing cost-push inflation.
However, as the United Kingdom realized in the 1970s, controlling inflation through income measures can be difficult, especially if labor unions are prominent.
Monetarism
Monetarism aims to keep inflation under control by limiting the money supply. Monetarists think that the money supply and inflation are inextricably linked. You should be able to bring inflation under control if you can manage the expansion of the money supply. Monetarists would emphasize policies like:
In fact, however, the link between money supply and inflation is weaker.
Supply Side Policies
Inflation is frequently caused by growing costs and ongoing uncompetitiveness. Supply-side initiatives may improve the economy’s competitiveness while also reducing inflationary pressures. More flexible labor markets, for example, may aid in the reduction of inflationary pressures.
Supply-side reforms, on the other hand, can take a long time to implement and cannot address inflation induced by increased demand.
Ways to Reduce Hyperinflation change currency
Conventional policies may be ineffective during a situation of hyperinflation. Future inflation expectations may be difficult to adjust. When people lose faith in a currency, it may be essential to adopt a new one or utilize a different one, such as the dollar (e.g. Zimbabwe hyperinflation).
Ways to reduce Cost-Push Inflation
Inflationary cost-push inflation (for example, rising oil costs) can cause inflation and slow GDP. This is the worst of both worlds, and it’s more difficult to manage without stunting growth.
What causes inflation when there is unemployment?
Inflationary circumstances can result in unemployment in a variety of ways. However, there is no direct connection. We often witness a trade-off between inflation and unemployment for example, in a period of high economic growth and falling unemployment, inflation rises see Phillips Curve.
It’s also worth remembering (especially in this context) that if the economy is experiencing deflation or very low inflation, and the monetary authorities aim for a moderate rate of inflation, this could assist stimulate growth and cut unemployment.
- Inflation uncertainty leads to lesser investment and, in the long run, worse economic growth.
- Inflationary growth is unsustainable, resulting in an economic boom and bust cycle.
- Inflation reduces competitiveness and reduces export demand, resulting in job losses in the export sector (especially in a fixed exchange rate).
Inflation creates uncertainty and lower investment
Firms are discouraged from investing during periods of high and erratic inflation, according to one viewpoint. Because of the high rate of inflation, businesses are less certain that their investments will be lucrative. Higher inflation rates, it is claimed, lead to lesser investment and, as a result, worse economic growth. As a result, if investment levels are low, this could lead to more unemployment in the long run.
It is stated that countries with low inflation rates, such as Germany, have been able to achieve a long period of economic stability, which has aided in the achievement of a low unemployment rate over time. Low inflation in Germany helps the economy become more competitive inside the Eurozone, which helps to create jobs and reduce unemployment.
How do inflation and unemployment effect a country’s economic growth?
In the long run, a one percent increase in inflation raises the jobless rate by 0.801 percent. This is especially true if inflation is not kept under control, as anxiety about inflation can lead to weaker investment and economic growth, resulting in unemployment.
Why does unemployment and inflation have no long-term trade-off?
The Phillips Curve, which is the Keynesian hypothesis that there is a stable trade-off between inflation and unemployment, was introduced in the preceding section. The Phillips Curve was also deduced from the aggregate supply curve, as we explained. In the short run, an upward slope aggregate supply curve implies a downward sloping Phillips curve, implying that inflation and unemployment are tradeoffs. In this part, we’ll show how a neoclassical long-run aggregate supply curve implies a vertical Phillips curve, showing that there’s no long-run inflation-unemployment tradeoff.
What is the relationship between inflation and employment?
If the economy is producing at its natural potential, increasing inflation by increasing the money supply will temporarily increase economic output and employment by increasing aggregate demand, but as prices adjust to the new level of money supply, economic output and employment will return to their natural state.