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Comment on Ask HN: Is inflation just the cost of government borrowing?parent

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ozbOP

I do have an econ education from a reputable university, so I have some idea of the traditional narrative. But inflation in particular always seemed a bit poorly explained to me (obvious printing-money cases aside), as evidenced also by the fact that people are always arguing about whether it is even occuring. Where specifically is my analysis wrong?

Again, prices can go up for reasons unrelated to government activity or the money supply.

ozbOP

My analysis can also account for eg supply chain failures: if the overall supply of goods and services in the economy is reduced, that translates to the expected government revenues as well, and therefore yields on government debt.

Obviously there are various effects at play; but given the structure of the monetary system, I posit that all these effects are in fact mediated by the Fed's balance sheet and Treasury debt.

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