Search Results
Journal Article
Pace of GDP Growth, Disinflation Key in U.S. Economic Outlook
The U.S. economy began the year on solid footing, but forecasts of below-trend GDP growth and uncertainty about the pace of disinflation pose risks in 2023.
Journal Article
Historical Disinflation Episodes: Which Falls First, Goods or Services?
What does it take to bring inflation back down to target? Historically, goods inflation slows first, followed by a longer period in which services inflation slows.
Speech
The First Steps toward Disinflation
Inflation in the U.S. is comparable to 1970s levels, and U.S. inflation expectations could become unmoored without credible Fed action, St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard said during a presentation in Barcelona, Spain. He noted that the Fed has reacted by taking important first steps to return inflation to the 2% target and that U.S. market interest rates have increased substantially, partially in response to promised Fed action.
Speech
Disinflation: Progress and Prospects
St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard presented “Disinflation: Progress and Prospects” at a meeting of the Greater Jackson Chamber in Tennessee.Bullard discussed the improved U.S. real GDP growth in the second half of 2022, the strong labor market performance, and the start of the disinflationary process.He also noted that front-loaded Fed policy has helped keep market-based measures of inflation expectations relatively low. Continued policy rate increases can help lock in a disinflationary trend this year, even with ongoing growth and strong labor markets, he said.
Journal Article
Is the Last Mile More Arduous?
US inflation surged starting in spring 2021, with Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation reaching a 40-year high of 9 percent in mid-2022. Together with improving supply-chain conditions, policy tightening by the Fed decreased inflation to within 1 to 2 percentage points of its 2 percent target by late 2023 without a significant increase in unemployment. However, concerns have been raised that the last mile of disinflation to reduce inflation consistently to its 2 percent target will be more arduous than the previous miles. Close examination of such concerns indicates that they do not receive ...
Speech
The First Steps toward Disinflation
St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard presented “The First Steps toward Disinflation” virtually at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Memphis.Bullard noted that inflation in the U.S. is comparable to levels seen in the 1970s. He added that U.S. inflation expectations could become unmoored without credible Fed action, possibly leading to a new regime of high inflation and volatile real economic performance.The Fed has reacted by taking important first steps to return inflation to the 2% target, Bullard said, adding that market interest rates have increased substantially, partially in ...
Discussion Paper
How Does Zombie Credit Affect Inflation? Lessons from Europe
Even after the unprecedented stimulus by central banks in Europe following the global financial crisis, Europe’s economic growth and inflation have remained depressed, consistently undershooting projections. In a striking resemblance to Japan’s “lost decades,” the European economy has been recently characterized by persistently low interest rates and the provision of cheap bank credit to impaired firms, or “zombie credit.” In this post, based on a recent staff report, we propose a “zombie credit channel” that links the rise of zombie credit to dis-inflationary pressures.
Report
A Faster Convergence of Shelter Prices and Market Rent: Implications for Inflation
The Federal Reserve currently faces a “last-mile” problem in bringing inflation back to its 2 percent target. Following the series of federal funds rate hikes that began in March 2022 and ended in July 2023, core (excluding food and energy) Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) inflation dropped from a year-over-year peak of 5.6 percent in February 2022 to 2.9 percent in December 2023. At the end of 2023, hopes were high that falling inflation would allow the Fed to cut interest rates several times in 2024. However, the disinflation process slowed noticeably in early 2024, prompting ...
Speech
Comments on “Managing Disinflations” by Stephen G. Cecchetti, Michael E. Feroli, Peter Hooper, Frederic S. Mishkin, and Kermit L. Schoenholtz with Matthew Luzzetti and Justin Weidner
In the time I have, I will comment on three aspects of the paper: the empirical estimation of the Phillips curve, the role of inflation expectations, and the lessons for policymakers operating in an uncertain environment. The views I present will be my own and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve System or of my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee.
Working Paper
The Macroeconomic Risks of Undesirably Low Inflation
This paper investigates the macroeconomic risks associated with undesirably low inflation using a medium-sized New Keynesian model. We consider different causes of persistently low inflation, including a downward shift in long-run inflation expectations, a fall in nominal wage growth, and a favorable supply-side shock. We show that the macroeconomic effects of persistently low inflation depend crucially on its underlying cause, as well as on the extent to which monetary policy is constrained by the zero lower bound. Finally, we discuss policy options to mitigate these effects.