Leaders | Inflategate

How rising inflation could disrupt the world’s economic policies

The debate is hotting up

THE DEBATE about whether high inflation will emerge out of the pandemic is becoming more pressing. In January underlying prices in the euro zone rose at their fastest pace for five years. In America some economists fear that President Joe Biden’s planned $1.9trn stimulus, which includes $1,400 cheques for most Americans, may overheat the economy once vaccines allow service industries to reopen fully. Emerging bottlenecks threaten to raise the price of goods. Space on container ships costs 180% more than a year ago and a shortage of semiconductors caused by this year’s boom in demand for tech equipment is disrupting the production of cars, computers and smartphones.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Inflategate”

How well will vaccines work?

From the February 13th 2021 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Leaders

Chinese AI is catching up, posing a dilemma for Donald Trump

The success of cheap Chinese models threatens America’s technological lead

America has an imperial presidency

And in Donald Trump, an imperialist president for the first time in over a century


A container ship Gunde Maersk sits docked at the Port of Oakland in California.

Tariffs will harm America, not induce a manufacturing rebirth

Donald Trump’s pursuit of tariffs will make the world poorer—and America, too 


How to improve clinical trials

Involving more participants can lead to new medical insights

Houthi Inc: the pirates who weaponised globalisation

Their Red Sea protection racket is a disturbing glimpse into an anarchic world

Donald Trump will upend 80 years of American foreign policy

A superpower’s approach to the world is about to be turned on its head