Whatever your view of the higher inflation expectations of late, particularly if firmer pricing pressure persists, it would be a distinct change from what’s prevailed over the past 40 years. Disinflation/deflation (DD) has been a dominant macro factor since Paul Volcker broke the back of inflation in a run of uber-hawkish monetary policy in the early 1980s. Since then, DD reigns supreme, arguably to the point that the policy of promoting this outcome has become a problem in its own right.

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