Inflation

Inflation is back, and its effects show up everywhere: at the grocery store, in the mortgage market, and in election results around the world. Tariffs and trade wars threaten to push prices up again. Yet, according to the authors, most of what people believe about inflation is out of date. Since the 1970s policymakers have followed essentially one playbook, which is to raise interest rates, cause unemployment and a recession, and so bring prices down. That simple story rests on a set of assumptions about why prices rise and how they can be reduced, and many of those assumptions are wrong, harmful, and weakly supported by evidence.

Political economists Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli explain what really causes inflation, question the way it is usually discussed, and make the case for new ways of fighting it. They write in an accessible style with a good deal of humor, making economic policy and the construction of inflation indices easier to follow.

The authors acknowledge that policymakers around the world may have managed a so-called soft landing, but they warn that thinking must change. Tariffs, climate shocks, demographic shifts, geopolitical tensions, and politicians promising to overturn the global order are all pushing toward a more inflationary future. The book argues that a new framework for understanding inflation is urgently needed, and it is aimed at readers who want to grasp the forces shaping both the economy and politics.