The
Federal Reserve has announced that it will raise its target
interest rate to 1.25 percent to stave off inflation. The following
provides a basic guide to inflation-what it is, how it works, and
how the Fed tries to manage it.
Q: What is inflation?
A: A
basic definition of inflation is that inflation is a rise in the
general price level throughout the economy. This general price
level is commonly measured by the Consumer Price Index.
Q: What causes inflation?
A:
There's no easy answer here. Think of a business that has more
customers than it can handle and, therefore, is doing quite well.
The owners of this business are likely to raise the prices they
charge their customers. In this way, economic activity can, in
general, lead to a temporary rise in the level of prices. Such a
rise is temporary because high prices attract other firms to
compete with the business owner. Also, every business owner's
interest in high profits puts an emphasis on increasing
productivity, and that can put downward pressure on prices.
Often, when economists talk about inflation, they are referring to
a sustained rise in prices that is "too high" or "too fast."
Although economists may not agree on precise definitions for these
terms, they describe the basic problem: too many dollars chasing
too few goods.
Q: What does "too many dollars chasing too few goods"
mean?
A:
Imagine if all the banks in the United States simultaneously placed
an extra $500,000 in every bank account. Most people would probably
rush out to spend a good bit of this money. Let's say most of them
decided to buy a new car. Unfortunately, carmakers would not have
enough cars to satisfy everyone. The likely response by carmakers
would be to raise their prices. In other words, too many dollars
(people with "extra" money) chasing too few goods (cars).
Q: How would we end up with too many dollars in the
economy?
A:
Essentially, the Federal Reserve serves as the monetary
authority in the United States and controls the amount (or
supply) of money in the economy. If the Fed miscues, for instance,
we could easily end up with too much money in the economy.
Q: How does the Federal Reserve control the amount of money
in the economy?
A:
The term "control" has to be qualified. For example, if the Fed
wants to increase the supply of money, it can simply have more
money printed (at the U.S. Mint). But that's unlikely because it
would be the best way to make sure too many dollars are chasing too
few goods.
Instead, the Fed tries to influence the amount of money through
interest rates. Currently, the Fed "targets" the short-term
interest rate called the federal funds rate. The idea is this: if
the Fed can keep interest rates low, there will be more money in
the economy, and if the Fed can send interest rates higher, there
will be less money in the economy. This policy is supposed to work
through bank lending. Banks will lend more money when interest
rates are low (because the price of credit is lower) and less money
when they are high (because the price of credit is higher).
Q: How does the Federal Reserve influence the federal funds
rate?
A:
The Fed employs a group of bond traders to buy and sell bonds on
its behalf. If the Fed wants to increase the amount of money in the
economy, it directs its traders to buy bonds. This money will end
up in banks that, in order to profit, will lend the new money. If
the banks want to lend the new money, then they will have to lower
the price of credit-interest rates. The process is supposed to work
in reverse, too; when the Fed wants to decrease the amount of money
in the economy, it sells bonds, thus taking money out of the
economy.
Q: Ideally, what should be the goal of the Federal
Reserve's monetary policy?
A:
The Federal Reserve's monetary policy should support a growing
economy but should not adversely affect the general level of
prices. Put another way, the Federal Reserve should constantly
strive to maintain an amount of money and credit that meet the
economy's need for cash and credit, but at levels that do not cause
inflation.
Q: What influence do foreign oil producers have on U.S. inflation?
A:
The inflation rate can respond quickly to changes in the price of
materials that are widely used in the economy. Because American
consumers use a great volume of petroleum-derived goods, oil
qualifies as such a material.
The
production policies of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers that follow OPEC's lead can
significantly affect overall prices in the short-term. Many people
remember how much inflation rose during the oil boycott of the
early 1970s, when the CPI hit double-digit levels several times.
OPEC production policies, however, have short-term effects because
high oil prices stimulate domestic production of oil and oil
substitutes. Thus, the economic "shock" from high oil prices that
Americans feel through higher prices for transportation, food,
manufactured household products, and other goods dependent on
energy from oil ultimately fades away as new sources of energy come
onto to the U.S. energy market.
Q: Does the strength of the dollar in foreign money markets
affect the inflation rate?
A:
There is a two-way relationship between exchange rates and
inflation. When U.S. consumers buy foreign products they pay prices
that reflect the exchange rate of the dollar against the currency
of the country that produced the product. For example, if the
importer of German beer to the United States must pay more dollars
for the same amount of beer he usually buys, then U.S. consumers
will in turn pay more dollars to the importer when they buy the
beer at their grocery store. Thus, the exchange rate between
Germany and the United States can impact inflation in the United
States. Of course, inflation in either country could also impact
the exchange rate between the two countries.
Q: How can we measure inflation?
A:
There are several ways to measure inflation, but the most commonly
recognized is the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Q: What exactly is the CPI?
A:
The CPI is a measure of what it costs to buy a bundle of goods
today compared to what that bundle of goods cost in the past. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducts a survey (called the
Consumer Expenditure Survey) that collects data on how much people
pay for various goods and services. The BLS then uses this
information to develop the cost of a "typical" bundle of goods. The
actual index is calculated by dividing the price of the bundle in a
given year by the price of the bundle in the base year (the
starting point) and then multiplying by 100. The resulting number
is the CPI.
Although we frequently hear about "the CPI," the BLS actually
computes more than one CPI, but the most used is the CPI-U, which
measures prices for urban consumers.
Q: How do I use the CPI?
A:
It's quite easy to use the CPI. Let's measure the rate of inflation
(how fast prices rose) from 2001 to 2002. The annual CPI for 2001
is 177.1, and the annual CPI for 2002 is 179.9. Just calculate the
percentage change between the two index values ((179.9 - 177.1) /
177.1 )*100), and you'll see that prices rose 1.6 percent from 2001
to 2002.
Another way of thinking about the inflation rate is to ask how much
will a dollar buy now versus what a dollar would have bought
before? In our example, $1.00 in 2001 had the same value as $1.06
in 2002. In terms of what you can buy with one dollar, you are
worse off in 2002: to buy what cost $1.00 in 2001, you needed $1.06
in 2002.
This
relationship is easier to see if we use a longer time period. One
dollar of goods in 1980 would cost $2.29 in 2004. You can calculate
this measure for any two years with the BLS inflation
calculator.
Norbert Michel, Ph.D., is Policy Analyst in, and William W. Beach
is Director of, the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage
Foundation.