<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Of course, within the report we can see violent swings, an inescapable result, given the unprecedented disruptions set into motion by the global pandemic. Look no further than energy prices. Down nearly 20% for the 12 months through April 2020. Up a bit more than 20% through April of this year. Netting to a tame 1.5% annualized climb. Hotel rental rates? Up by 8% this April, but still down nearly 10% from two years ago\u2014more recovery for these prices is all but certain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there are used car prices. The world has a temporary microchip shortage. Auto output is depressed, globally. U.S. Federal Reserve production data pegs the year-to-date slide at 10%. Rental companies, usually sellers of cars, are buying used cars. Used car prices, April 2021, are roughly 20% higher than where one might have expected them to be, in late 2019. But microchip production will almost certainly rebound, and, in turn, motor vehicle output. If that unfolds, falling used car prices, later this year, are a real possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will the stimulus put in place in March of this year generate too much of a good thing? Will the jobless rate fall to levels that elicit big wage increases, reactive price hikes and a wage\/price spiral, amid an unhinging of long-standing anchored inflation expectations? Though we are wagering the answer is no, we acknowledge that the debate is legitimate. But it is clear the April 2021 CPI report offers us no guidance on the question. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a companion CFE blogpost, we acknowledge that the supersized fiscal stimulus enacted earlier this year invites serious angst about accelerating inflation. We make the case that the inflation risks are less worrisome than many conventional economists make them out to be. That said, we certainly accept that such risks are there. But the April […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6674940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6674940"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6675029,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674940\/revisions\/6675029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6674940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6674940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/financial-economics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6674940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}