Articolosull'economist sul pericolo di deflazione. Le banche centrali sono così abituate a combattere l'inflazione che si stanno precipitando nel problema opposto, che strangola il Giappone da dieci anni.
Deflation is much more harmful than inflation. Falling prices encourage consumers to postpone spending in the expectation of cheaper goods tomorrow; they also make it impossible to deliver negative real interest rates if these are needed to drag an economy out of recession. Most dangerous of all is a cocktail of deflation and debt. Deflation pushes up the real burden of debt, while the value of assets linked to that debt, such as house prices, may have to fall even more sharply in nominal terms to return to a fair level. This has already caused severe balance-sheet problems in Japan, and now America and Germany may be at risk: in both countries debts have surged to record levels.
