CASE STUDY
Inflation and Unemployment in the United States Because inflation and unemployment are such important measures of economic performance, macroeconomic developments are often viewed through the lens of the Phillips curve.
Figure 13-3 displays the history of inflation and unemployment in the United States from 1960 to 2008.
This data, spanning almost half a century, illustrates some of the causes of rising or falling inflation.
The 1960s showed how policymakers can, in the short run, lower unemployment at the cost of higher inflation.
The tax cut of 1964, together with expansionary monetary policy, expanded aggregate demand and pushed the unemployment rate below 5 percent.
This expansion of aggregate demand continued in the late 1960s largely as a by-product of government spending for the Vietnam War. Unemployment fell lower and inflation rose higher than policymakers intended.
The 1970s were a period of economic turmoil.
The decade began with policymakers trying to lower the inflation inherited from the 1960s.
President Nixon imposed temporary controls on wages and prices, and the Federal Reserve engineered a recession through contractionary monetary policy, but the inflation rate fell only slightly.
The effects of wage and price controls ended when the controls were lifted, and the recession was too small to counteract the inflationary impact of the boom that had preceded it.
By 1972 the unemployment rate was the same as a decade earlier, while inflation was 3 percentage points higher.
Beginning in 1973 policymakers had to cope with the large supply shocks caused by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC first raised oil prices in the mid-1970s, pushing the inflation rate up to about 10 percent.
This adverse supply shock, together with temporarily tight monetary policy, led to a recession in 1975. High unemployment during the recession reduced inflation somewhat, but further OPEC price hikes pushed inflation up again in the late 1970s.
The 1980s began with high inflation and high expectations of inflation.
Under the leadership of Chairman Paul Volcker, the Federal Reserve doggedly pursued monetary policies aimed at reducing inflation.
In 1982 and 1983 the unemployment rate reached its highest level in 40 years.
High unemployment,aided by a fall in oil prices in 1986, pulled the inflation rate down from about 10 percent to about 3 percent.
By 1987 the unemployment rate of about 6 percent was close to most estimates of the natural rate.
Unemployment continued to fall through the 1980s, however, reaching a low of 5.2 percent in 1989 and beginning a new round of demand-pull inflation.
Compared to the preceding 30 years, the 1990s and early 2000s were relatively quiet.
The 1990s began with a recession caused by several contractionary shocks to aggregate demand:
tight monetary policy, the savings-and-loan crisis, and a fall in consumer confidence coinciding with the Gulf War.
The unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent in 1992, and inflation fell slightly.
Unlike in the 1982 recession, unemployment in the 1990 recession was never far above the natural rate,so the effect on inflation was small. Similarly, a recession in 2001 (discussed in Chapter 11) raised unemployment, but the downturn was mild by historical standards,and the impact on inflation was once again slight.
A more severe recession beginning in 2008 (also discussed in Chapter 11) looked like it might put more significant downward pressure on inflation—although the full magnitude of this event was uncertain as this book was going to press.
Thus, U.S. macroeconomic history exhibits the two causes of changes in the inflation rate that we encountered in the Phillips curve equation. The 1960s and 1980s show the two sides of demand-pull inflation:
in the 1960s low unemployment pulled inflation up, and in the 1980s high unemployment pulled inflation down.
The oil-price hikes of the 1970s show the effects of cost-push inflation.
CASE STUDY
Inflation and Unemployment in the United States Because inflation and unemployment are such important measures of economic performance, macroeconomic developments are often viewed through the lens of the Phillips curve.
Figure 13-3 displays the history of inflation and unemployment in the United States from 1960 to 2008.
This data, spanning almost half a century, illustrates some of the causes of rising or falling inflation.
The 1960s showed how policymakers can, in the short run, lower unemployment at the cost of higher inflation.
The tax cut of 1964, together with expansionary monetary policy, expanded aggregate demand and pushed the unemployment rate below 5 percent.
This expansion of aggregate demand continued in the late 1960s largely as a by-product of government spending for the Vietnam War. Unemployment fell lower and inflation rose higher than policymakers intended.
The 1970s were a period of economic turmoil.
The decade began with policymakers trying to lower the inflation inherited from the 1960s.
President Nixon imposed temporary controls on wages and prices, and the Federal Reserve engineered a recession through contractionary monetary policy, but the inflation rate fell only slightly.
The effects of wage and price controls ended when the controls were lifted, and the recession was too small to counteract the inflationary impact of the boom that had preceded it.
By 1972 the unemployment rate was the same as a decade earlier, while inflation was 3 percentage points higher.
Beginning in 1973 policymakers had to cope with the large supply shocks caused by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC first raised oil prices in the mid-1970s, pushing the inflation rate up to about 10 percent.
This adverse supply shock, together with temporarily tight monetary policy, led to a recession in 1975. High unemployment during the recession reduced inflation somewhat, but further OPEC price hikes pushed inflation up again in the late 1970s.
The 1980s began with high inflation and high expectations of inflation.
Under the leadership of Chairman Paul Volcker, the Federal Reserve doggedly pursued monetary policies aimed at reducing inflation.
In 1982 and 1983 the unemployment rate reached its highest level in 40 years.
High unemployment,aided by a fall in oil prices in 1986, pulled the inflation rate down from about 10 percent to about 3 percent.
By 1987 the unemployment rate of about 6 percent was close to most estimates of the natural rate.
Unemployment continued to fall through the 1980s, however, reaching a low of 5.2 percent in 1989 and beginning a new round of demand-pull inflation.
Compared to the preceding 30 years, the 1990s and early 2000s were relatively quiet.
The 1990s began with a recession caused by several contractionary shocks to aggregate demand:
tight monetary policy, the savings-and-loan crisis, and a fall in consumer confidence coinciding with the Gulf War.
The unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent in 1992, and inflation fell slightly.
Unlike in the 1982 recession, unemployment in the 1990 recession was never far above the natural rate,so the effect on inflation was small. Similarly, a recession in 2001 (discussed in Chapter 11) raised unemployment, but the downturn was mild by historical standards,and the impact on inflation was once again slight.
A more severe recession beginning in 2008 (also discussed in Chapter 11) looked like it might put more significant downward pressure on inflation—although the full magnitude of this event was uncertain as this book was going to press.
Thus, U.S. macroeconomic history exhibits the two causes of changes in the inflation rate that we encountered in the Phillips curve equation. The 1960s and 1980s show the two sides of demand-pull inflation:
in the 1960s low unemployment pulled inflation up, and in the 1980s high unemployment pulled inflation down.
The oil-price hikes of the 1970s show the effects of cost-push inflation.
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