few weeks ago, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen appeared on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert to discuss a range of issues both political and personal.
The most widely reported moment in the interview came when Yellen talked about practicing her signature (don't ask me why this is newsworthy, I have no idea). However, a significantly more important moment has not gotten the attention it deserves.
When asked by Colbert to explain the reasons behind the worst inflation the US has experienced in 40 years, the former Federal Reserve chair blamed it primarily on rising consumer spending—Americans "splurging" on goods—at the start of 2021 once the Covid-19 lockdowns were lifted. This, compounded with supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine can sufficiently explain inflation, Yellen claims.
But can it really? Let’s take a closer look.
Yellen's explanation is not wholly inaccurate; it is true that consumer spending rose above pre-pandemic levels at the start of 2021 and continued to rise at a notably fast rate for many subsequent months—which puts upward pressure on prices. At the same time, this is in no way a complete explanation of the inflation we are seeing now.
Yellen’s explanation does not capture inflation’s primary culprit, both in this case and historically: expansionary monetary policy. From February 2020 to February 2021, the money supply as measured by M2 (the broadest measure of the money supply) increased by 27 percent. It increased by another 11 percent from February 2021 to February 2022. This means that, over the first two years of the Covid pandemic, the money supply increased by 41 percent. To put that in perspective, from 2010 to 2019, this measure of the money supply rose by 5.8 percent annually.
In a 60 Minutes interview, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell replied "Yes, we did," when asked if he simply "flooded the system with money" during the pandemic.
The consequence of such a drastic rise in the money supply is clear: a drastic rise in inflation.
