Phanie

“All things being equal, inflation could change the nominal price of things without changing their value much. So long as your wages were going up in sync with the cost of living, the numbers might get bigger, but you wouldn't get any more or less wealthy. Unfortunately, inflation is never quite so fair. It hits different parts of the economy differently at different times, often exaggerating inequalities and eroding trust in the monetary system, which tends to be based on the price stability of money.”
― Liam Dann, BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matters

“Deflation means the value of a dollar is rising too fast instead of failing. It effectively means the price of things is going down. Of course, the idea that failing prices are a bad thing seems counterintuitive. But the problem is that when people expect prices to fall, this can create a recessionary spiral.”
― Liam Dann, BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matters

“The great thing about economics is that everyone can have an opinion. There are plenty of facts. But it's a science that is never quite settled. Unlike hard sciences, which can run countless lab-controlled experiments, economics is mostly theory. We only get to observe economic experiments once, in real time, as our choices play out. We never get to see the counterfactual — the alternative outcomes that might have been possible with small tweaks or different policy approaches.”
― Liam Dann, BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matters

“Economies are the sum of our collective behaviour, and if we all start to believe a recession is coming, then there is a risk that we'll collectively adjust our behaviour. That adjustment can in itself be recessionary. If we spend too much time worrying about recession, they can become self-fulfilling prophecies. So, of course, like a lot of economics, how and when we start talking about recession is highly political.”
― Liam Dann, BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matters