Skip to main content

SubscriberExclusiveLandingHero
op_feld2_Mike KempIn Pictures via Getty Images_inflation Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

Why Inflation Persists

Lars P. Feld

What "Team Transitory" has missed in the inflation debate is that inflation tends to become persistent because of second-round effects. Not only have producer prices risen over the past year or so, but they also have not yet been fully passed through the value chain.

navigates the complex array of factors that give rise to one of the biggest problems in macroeconomics.
  1. BP financial crisis Anadolu Agency / Contributor via Getty Images

    Here We Go Again?

    Featured in this Big Picture

    Yanis Varoufakis, Andrés Velasco, Lucrezia Reichlin, Raghuram G. Rajan, Viral V. Acharya, Michael R. Strain, Willem H. Buiter, Nouriel Roubini

    Fifteen years after the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers triggered a devastating global financial crisis, the banking system is in trouble again. Central bankers and financial regulators each seem to bear some of the blame for the recent tumult, but there is significant disagreement over how much – and what, if anything, can be done to avoid a deeper crisis.

  2. op_schell1_Andrea VerdelliGetty Images_xijinping Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images

    Xi Jinping’s Chinese Tragedy

    Orville Schell interviewed by Irena Grudzińska Gross about the country's increasingly worrisome trajectory, both at home and abroad.
  3. GettyImages-1171447879

    Richard Haass on Russia, Taiwan, and US democracy

    Richard Haass explains what caused the Ukraine war, urges the West to scrutinize its economic dependence on China, proposes ways to reverse the dangerous deterioration of democracy in America, and more.
  4. onpoint-promotion-module

    Where else…

    can you read new insights from renowned economists, world leaders, and distinguished thinkers every day?

    Upgrade your subscription

  5. op_haass3_Chris HondrosGetty Images_iraqwar Chris Hondros/Getty Images

    Revisiting America’s War of Choice in Iraq

    Richard Haass considers the enduring lessons from a foreign intervention that was both ill-conceived and poorly executed.
  6. BQ SVB China News Service / Contributor via Getty Images

    PS Commentators Respond: Is a New Financial Crisis Underway?

    Featured in this Big Question

    Harold James, Simon Johnson, Stephen S. Roach, Kenneth Rogoff, Anne C. Sibert

    The US government’s pledge to do “whatever is needed” to protect the banking system after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse last week did little to reassure markets, which have continued to slide. At a time when the US Federal Reserve is considering further interest-rate hikes to tame inflation, we asked PS commentators how bad things are likely to get, for the US and the world.

  7. op_livingston2_Beata ZawrzelNurPhoto via Getty Images_capitalisamprotest Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    The Sense of an Ending

    James Livingston surveys the intellectual terrain created by the transition from capitalism as we have come to know it.
  8. BQ - big tech Anna Moneymaker / Staff via Getty Images

    PS Commentators Respond: Can the US Rein in Big Tech?

    Featured in this Big Question

    Anu Bradford, Tim O'Reilly, Ilan Strauss, Mariana Mazzucato, Tommaso Valletti

    While the European Union has gradually tightened the screws on tech giants, America’s regulatory bark has so far been bigger than its bite. With Big Tech’s competition-crushing market power continuing to grow, we asked PS commentators why the US continues to lag, and what it would take to make real progress.

  9. GettyImages-1400218353

    William H. Janeway on state-sponsored innovation, greentech, asset bubbles, and more

    William H. Janeway proposes a better approach to innovation-boosting state procurement, explains why financial speculation is vital to technological progress, highlights three recent developments that could transform capitalism, and more.
  10. op_monga1_ISSOUF SANOGOAFP via Getty Images_CFAfranc Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images

    Rethinking Debt Sustainability in Africa

    Célestin Monga shows why analysts need a more holistic framework for assessing African countries' “balance sheets.”
  11. BQ - end ukraine Mark Kerrison / Contributor via Getty Images

    Everything Flows in Ukraine

    Featured in this Big Picture

    Shlomo Ben-Ami, Nina L. Khrushcheva, Frans Timmermans, Richard Haass, Harold James

    More than a year after Russia launched what was widely expected to be a quick rout of Ukraine’s forces, both sides are preparing for yet another round of offensives. As the United States and Europe reaffirm their support for Ukraine, the question of what it will take to end the war is more urgent – and complicated – than ever.

  12. op_khapaeva3_ OLIVER BUNICAFP via Getty Images OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images

    Putin’s Dogs of War

    Dina Khapaeva dissects what the growing prominence of the Wagner Group’s mercenaries says about Vladimir Putin’s regime.
  13. BQ - Turkey quake BULENT KILIC / Contributor via Getty Images

    PS Commentators Respond: Will the Earthquake Be a Political Game-Changer for Turkey?

    Featured in this Big Question

    Seyla Benhabib, Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan , Sinan Ülgen

    Recent deadly earthquakes in southern Turkey – which have also devastated northwest Syria – have put President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) under intensifying pressure. With some 46,000 people killed, and the fallout continuing to grow, we asked PS commentators whether the tragedy will lead to a significant political shakeup after 20 years of AKP rule.

  14. GettyImages-1412309758

    Chris Patten on Rishi Sunak, Taiwan, Chinese diplomacy, and more

    Chris Patten assesses the challenges British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces, anticipates more policy mistakes from Chinese President Xi Jinping, highlights two delusions that have distorted Western policymaking on China, and more.

Global ructions have put an end to the long era of price stability and low interest rates, forcing a reconsideration of many business models and economic growth strategies. Whether old orthodoxies can be replaced by something genuinely new and better is now the trillion-dollar question.

Learn more
1Q2023_ParadigmShifts_spreads_DG background

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification

To receive email updates regarding this {entity_type}, please enter your email below.

If you are not already registered, this will create a PS account for you. You should receive an activation email shortly.