Leaders | Inflategate

How rising inflation could disrupt the world’s economic policies

The debate is hotting up

THE DEBATE about whether high inflation will emerge out of the pandemic is becoming more pressing. In January underlying prices in the euro zone rose at their fastest pace for five years. In America some economists fear that President Joe Biden’s planned $1.9trn stimulus, which includes $1,400 cheques for most Americans, may overheat the economy once vaccines allow service industries to reopen fully. Emerging bottlenecks threaten to raise the price of goods. Space on container ships costs 180% more than a year ago and a shortage of semiconductors caused by this year’s boom in demand for tech equipment is disrupting the production of cars, computers and smartphones.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Inflategate”

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