The Inflation Myth: Power, Prices and Navigating the Coming Crisis

In the wake of the pandemic, politicians and pundits learned a powerful, game changing lesson: money is no object when there is the political will to act in the face of an emergency. We can make workers whole during a period of unemployment. We can stave off bankruptcies and evictions by giving people money. We can lift millions of families out of poverty and reverse decades of rising income inequality. We can stop a recession in its tracks. We have the power to do all of this and more. But a fierce debate has opened up around rising prices, and it threatens to undermine the economic possibilities for our future.

The stories that have come to dominate popular thinking about inflation will shape the way policymakers respond to present and future crises. Already, various myths are being used as a cudgel against the policies we will need to respond to the overlapping emergencies we're facing. Solving those emergencies will take large sums of money and will come with inflationary risks. Can we act boldly, creatively and quickly to sustain ongoing public investments in our collective wellbeing while keeping inflation at bay? The answer is yes - but we'll need to bust some powerful myths and embrace a new economic framework to get there.

The Inflation Myth explodes perhaps the most pervasive illusion of all, dismantling common preconceptions and arguing for a new paradigm. By deconstructing nine different myths and their corresponding realities, Stephanie Kelton urgently addresses the problem at the root of our politics and economics for years to come.