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Demand versus Supply: Which is More Important for Inflation?

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  • Kevin J. Lansing

Abstract

I use Phillips curve type regressions to assess the relative contributions of demand and supply forces to U.S. inflation during the pandemic era from February 2020 onward and the decade following the end of the Great Recession. In the first specification (Model 1), demand and supply forces are measured using the vacancy-unemployment ratio and the New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, respectively. In the second specification (Model 2), demand and supply forces are measured using the demand-driven and supply-driven components of PCE inflation from Shapiro (2025). The results derived from the two models are largely in agreement. For both models, variance decompositions imply that demand forces became more important for inflation during the pandemic era and dominated the influence of supply forces. In counterfactual simulations, both models imply that supply forces, together with the endogenous response of expected inflation, were the primary drivers of persistently low inflation after the Great Recession. Given that monetary policy operates to influence demand-driven inflation, this result helps to account for the Fed’s difficulty in achieving its 2% inflation goal during these years.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin J. Lansing, 2024. "Demand versus Supply: Which is More Important for Inflation?," Working Paper Series 2025-08, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedfwp:99904
    DOI: 10.24148/wp2025-08
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lansing, Kevin J., 2021. "Endogenous forecast switching near the zero lower bound," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 153-169.
    2. Thomas A. Lubik & Frank Schorfheide, 2004. "Testing for Indeterminacy: An Application to U.S. Monetary Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 190-217, March.
    3. Barnichon, Régis & Shapiro, Adam Hale, 2024. "Phillips meets Beveridge," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(S).
    4. Régis Barnichon & Adam Shapiro, 2024. "Phillips Meets Beveridge," NBER Chapters, in: Inflation in the COVID Era and Beyond, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Luca Gambetti & Jordi Galí, 2009. "On the Sources of the Great Moderation," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 26-57, January.
    6. Jason Furman, 2022. "Why Did (Almost) No One See the Inflation Coming?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 57(2), pages 79-86, March.
    7. Kevin J. Lansing, 2022. "Untangling Persistent versus Transitory Shocks to Inflation," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, vol. 2022(13), pages 1-05, May.
    8. Cochrane, John H, 1992. "Explaining the Variance of Price-Dividend Ratios," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(2), pages 243-280.
    9. Phil Levy, 2024. "Did supply chains deliver pandemic-era inflation?," Policy Briefs PB24-10, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Phillips Curve; demand; supply; expected inflation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E37 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications

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