Inflation is a measure of how much the value of currency depreciates each year. For example, if prices for a loaf of bread rise by 3% in a year, you would have to earn that extra 3% to continue to purchase bread, so your extra earnings would have no extra value.<\/p>\n
According to the Bank of England, average price inflation rose by an average of 5.2% a year between 1950 and 2020. £10 in your purse or wallet in 1950 would now need to be £350.42 to have the same purchasing power.<\/p>\n
The process is pernicious. As prices increase there is a tendency to try and buy now before prices increase. This increase in demand can further outstrip supply and push up prices even more.<\/p>\n
The reverse applies if prices fall; this is known as deflation. There is a tendency to defer buying decisions in the hope that prices will fall further. This is a disaster for businesses as they must lower prices to win sales, become unprofitable, and if the process continues, become insolvent and forced to liquidate.<\/p>\n
While earning keep pace with inflation the increasing number of £s in your pocket will help you maintain your purchasing power, but the increased earning will not allow you to buy more stuff.<\/p>\n
If inflation outstrips earnings, then you will have less purchasing power.<\/p>\n
Inflation is a recent phenomenon. Between the seven hundred years 1200 and 1900, average inflation was low, only 0.4% per annum. In the next one hundred years, as the effects of industrialisation and increases in money supply took effect, average inflation was 4.4%.<\/p>\n
If the Bank of England manages to keep inflation at the target rate of 2%, we should suffer no ill effects. The danger is if rates climb above 2% the BOE may need to increase interest rates – their prime instrument for reducing inflation – which means that we will all have to pay more to borrow money or finance our debts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Inflation is a measure of how much the value of currency depreciates each year. For example, if prices for a loaf of bread rise by 3% in a year, you would have to earn that extra 3% to continue to purchase bread, so your extra earnings would have no extra value. According to the Bank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/duffyregan.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}