Paul Krugman: Still no stag and not much flation

By Paul Krugman / The New York Times

The economic news continues to be pretty good, especially compared with the dire forecasts many were making in late 2022. But you might not have gotten that message if you watch financial TV: It’s hard to spend 24/7 talking about the economy while saying “not much happened this week.” So commentators — and partisan media — seize on every hint of bad news.

And the public is reacting. Google searches for “stagflation” have spiked, much like they did in the spring of 2022.

So here’s what you need to know: There’s no stag out there and not much flation.

True, gross domestic product growth came in a bit low in the first quarter. But just about every serious analyst regarded this as statistical noise. More important, as we saw in Friday morning’s employment report, the U.S. economy is continuing its remarkable stretch of good job numbers and low unemployment.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/paul-krugman-still-no-stag-and-not-much-flation/