NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

The Genesis of Inflation and the Costs of Disinflation

Laurence Ball

NBER Working Paper No. 3621*
Issued in February 1991
NBER Program(s):   EFG

This essay asks how high inflation arises and why it is costly to eliminate. Specifically, the paper discusses the roles of price rigidity and credibility problems in explaining the costs of disinflation; the puzzle of persistent inflation triggered by onetime macroeconomic shocks; and the case for returning to adaptive expectations in theories of inflation.

*Published: Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, August 1991 (Part 2), pp. 439 - 452

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