As the economy reopens, consumer spending on leisure, travel, entertainment and other service-related activities will increase," he said.īlaming Biden for the inflation "seems an exaggeration at best," said Jeffrey Miron, a senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University and director of economics studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. The only Biden policy that has affected prices is the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill he signed March 11, said Abdur Chowdhury, an emeritus economics professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
Economists expect these price increases to reverse once supply chains iron out delays and shortages. In general, a president has limited control over the weekly and monthly shifts in gasoline prices.Īnd for plywood, mills that shut down or reduced production during the throes of the pandemic in 2020 still haven’t caught up to increased demand.Īll in all, the peculiar transition to a post-pandemic economy has produced mismatches in supply and demand that are now driving the sharpest inflation. Recent price trends for some basic commodities illustrate the ripple effect of the widespread business shutdowns that hit just a little over a year ago, and the resurgence of demand as vaccinations and declining COVID-19 case numbers promise a return to normal business activity.įor example, in the case of gasoline, experts said, tight supplies drove prices up from January, when Biden took office, to April (before a May hacker attack shut down a key pipeline).
We examined the threat of inflation in an article in mid-May.Įconomists said that most of the current rise in consumer prices stems from supply chains having to adjust quickly to greater economic activity after increased vaccination has eased the pandemic.
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