SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes | I do not want to question the likely bad effects that come about owing to a large unexpected deflation (or inflation). What I want to question is whether a period of prolonged moderate (and presumably expected) deflation is necessarily associated with periods of depressed economic activity. Most people certainly seem to think so. But why?
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | The Spanish National Statistical Institute has recently published May’s CPI. The chart shows the 0.1% annual variation with respect to May 2013. Such variations determine a curious outcome on the price level, as the second chart exhibits.
COPENHAGUEN | By Peter Ludgreen via Caixin | Despite recent moves by the European Central Bank – one of them historic – it will continue to fight against very low inflation and growth. [Cartoon published by The Japan Times]
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | You probably know Jaime Caruana. He is an inept who ignored the warning signals of the Spanish bubble although as the central bank governor he was the main responsible for it. And now that he is the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) head and Spain’s housing prices have declined by 40% on average according to property valuer Tinsa, he disregards deflation risks.
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | There was a deflation period in Europe at the peak of the crisis in 2008-2010. Demand policies all around the world erased it and prices increased to 3% annual rate. Then, the resulting austerity policies brought us back to deflation.
MADRID | By Francisco López | Investors keep betting on European actives, even though the eurozone economies are facing some serious problems: deflation risk, unemployment records and even a possible war in Ukraine. Why does the European stock exchanges dominate analysts’ recommendations?
By David Denton via The Richter Scale | For anyone who was growing up in the 1970s there is a short list of things that one has to be concerned about: The music of The Bay City Rollers, the instant pudding – “angel delight”, playing rugby against the Welsh and inflation. Although the oil price shocks affected all industrialised economies inflation had a particularly severe impact on the UK, we quickly became known as the sick man of Europe.
LONDON | By Michael Gavin at Barclays | The recent decline of headline and core inflation in the US and Europe has intensified interest in the economics of deflation, particularly the perceived danger that Europe may be headed for a deflationary episode. Deflation is particularly unsettling for many policymakers and market participants because of the theoretical risk that it may render monetary policy ineffective, creating a ‘liquidity trap’ from which it may be very difficult to escape.
MADRID | By JP Marin Arrese | Prices like the weather inescapably lead to widespread demurral. They always look either overly hot or unduly cold. Yet the current debate on potential deflation seems largely shrugged off in Spain, even confronted with a CPI dwelling in minus territory. A predictable reaction in a country that scores a solid record of relentless price hikes.
LONDON | By Barclays analysts | Under our macroeconomic scenario of a mild and uneven recovery combined with subdued inflation, we do not expect the ECB to cut rates further in the coming months despite recent speculation (Bloomberg news) that it was considering a negative deposit rate.