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by copenja 1462 days ago
I don't think the stimulus being one of the drivers of inflation is an 'extremist fringe theory' at all. I thought the consensus was it was one of many factors, and the exact contribution of the different factors (stimulus, supply issues, etc) was up for debate.

US inflation is higher than other wealthy nations and the US also did a larger stimulus. So there is evidence that the additional stimulus may have created greater inflation in the US. Scope this paper here: [0]

As far as the consensus for the cause of inflation being unclear among experts, scope this article in left leaning VOX: [1].

[0] https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economi...

[1] https://www.vox.com/23036340/biden-american-rescue-plan-infl...

2 comments

The UK didn't provide stimulus checks yet is experiencing higher inflation than the US.

Canada gave a lot more in stimulus checks (with respect to GDP) than the US but is experiencing less inflation than the US.

> The UK government has borrowed vast sums of money to fund over £400 billion ($558 billion) in stimulus during the crisis. Total government debt has soared to £2 trillion ($2.8 trillion), or close to 100% of GDP, a level not seen since the 1960s, according to the Office for National Statistics.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/03/economy/budget-2021-uk-stimul...

Stimulus checks certainly had an impact on inflation! (A point I argue specifically elsewhere in this thread.)

But not the QE/printing money.