Tag Archives: inflation

Stealthflation

In April 2012 Chris Becker highlighted product debasement in a short post titled ‘Stealthflation.’ Stealthflation is hidden price inflation when instead of raising a product’s nominal price, manufacturers cut product sizes or reduce product quality. Stealthflation is rampant in South … Continue reading

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Demographic Delusion

Michael Power, a strategist at Investec Asset Management and long-time inflation dove has penned a piece in the Business Day online titled, Demographics determine bipolar inflationary trends.  Power has for years advocated for higher price inflation in South Africa, which … Continue reading

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The SA Reserve Bank’s record

I dusted off this piece I did a year ago on chrislbecker.com where I assessed the SARB’s performance in accordance with its own prescribed legislative mandate. The results are dismal to say the least.  I conclude, Not only has the Reserve Bank failed at each … Continue reading

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RE: On The Empirical Relevance of Austrian Business Cycle Theory

My friend Grant McDermott, to whom I wrote why I think the empirical relevance of ABCT by Lester/Wolff may produce “mixed” results replied to me in this post. This is a quick one to elaborate my points. Firstly Grant says … Continue reading

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The Declining Relevance of Fractional Reserve Banks

Here is a fascinating article on Wired about the declining influence and relevance of fractional reserve commercial banks on the lives of individuals. It argues that banks will one day look more like Google, Facebook, or Apple. Interesting about this … Continue reading

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Further Thoughts on ABCT

Further to our posts yesterday, out of our discussion on ABCT came some thoughts on the length and shape of the production structure. While it is a feature of boom-bust cycles that during a credit-induced boom the production structure may lengthen … Continue reading

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RE: On The Empirical Relevance of Austrian Business Cycle Theory

Chris: Further to your useful post, it goes without saying that Austrian methodology is wholly different from the empirical analysis employed in the Lester/Wolff study. Three points on this: Firstly, it is interesting that despite all the data shortcomings, the authors found … Continue reading

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Burgerflation

This week Chris Becker and I did some research on price inflation on a Wimpy burger and chips combo meal and the CPI over 41 years.  We found that Wimpy prices are up 11000% since 1972, while the official CPI is only up about … Continue reading

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Radio Interview on Consumer Price Index

I spoke to Moneyweb’s Hilton Tarrant on the SAfm Market Update yesterday where we discussed the latest consumer price index data for June that was released by Stats SA yesterday. Listen to the interview or read the transcript here. For … Continue reading

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Bob Murphy on his inflation bet

Bob Murphy speaks up for himself about his lost CPI inflation bet in a comment on EPJ. Bob MurphyJanuary 1, 2013 at 8:43 AM Thanks Bob W. Just a few clarifications everybody: (A) I made the bet with David Henderson … Continue reading

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