The Anatomy of the Global Inflation Spike

Persistent surges in core price inflation (which excludes food and energy), and the resulting overshoot of central-bank inflation targets, have been a distinctive and distressing feature of the post-pandemic global economic landscape.

When confronted with such an economically significant phenomenon, those of us who pay attention to the relevant international evidence will look for common factors to account for the observed correlation between countries. I can think of at least three.