Inflation: Past, Present, and Future

In this seminar course, students will study the history of inflation beginning with the 1960s and 1970s when inflation was high, and the steps that were taken by the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world to bring inflation down in the 1980s and 1990s. We will study economic models of the inflation process and examine how inflation is measured in the official statistics. Finally, we will investigate the factors behind the resurgence in inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic and assess the actions the Fed has taken to return inflation to pre-pandemic levels. Prerequisites: Economics 101.