We Need to Talk About Inflation
A review of

We Need to Talk About Inflation

14 Urgent Lessons from the Last 2,000 Years

Stephen D. King • Yale UP • 2023

Up and Down

by David Meyer

Economist Stephen D. King — prolific author, senior economic adviser at HSBC, and columnist for the Evening Standard — details the historical and political causes for recurring inflationary cycles.

Economist Stephen D. King — prolific author, senior economic adviser at HSBC, and columnist for the Evening Standard — reports that, for decades, central bankers and economists had all but forgotten about inflation, fearing deflationary spirals more than rising prices. US inflation topped 9% in 2022 but dropped to 3.2% by July 2023, just after this book’s publication.

Trust, Confidence, and Money Supply

For a decades-long period beginning in the late 1980s, the world enjoyed price stability. That changed during the COVID-19 pandemic: In 2021, prices rose at a startling pace. Central bankers brushed off  initial signs of inflation as temporary.

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