First up, inflation. As inflation heats up….
Central bankers around the world are lifting interest rates at an aggressive clip as rapid inflation persists and seeps into a broad array of goods and services, setting the global economy up for a lurch toward more expensive credit, lower stock and bond values and — potentially — a sharp pullback in economic activity.
…according to the New York Times. Not all economist and thinkers agree with this. Here’s Hadas Their providing a socialist’s view on why price controls are a better idea. More on her argument in Jacobin. For a counter to that, here’s someone from the Fed arguing that price controls should stay in the history book. I tend to side with the Fed’s view over Their’s, but she raises valid criticisms of the central bank’s approach.
Perhaps I am too used to economics only coming from a male perspective. Perhaps you are too. If so, we might all benefit from reading this: We all play by economic rules set by men. What could a feminist economics look like?
But back to the Fed. If they want to bring down inflation, how does they go about doing that? You can learn about their methods to control the economy here: The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Operations.
Besides dealing with inflation, many economists are looking to see if and when we will be in a recession. One surprising way to do that is look at the price of copper. If you are asking yourself, what does the price of copper tell us about the economy, then read this. For more on this, see: historical Copper price data. Here’s more on the Global price of Copper (PCOPPUSDM) from FRED.
One last thing. On the topics of inflation and the economy, the economist Larry Summers has been popping up more and more because he seems to me he’s been predicting bad inflation early on. Given that, here’s something to keep in mind: Summers Watch from The American Prospect. Let’s just say that I think there are better people to get your advice from.
Smart People I Know 