Zandi says tariffs fueling US price surge; claims policy shift could quickly cool inflation
Economist Mark Zandi argues that persistent US inflation is driven by specific policy choices, particularly trade tariffs and restrictive immigration laws. He suggests that these policies have reduced the available workforce and increased costs, keeping inflation above the Federal Reserve's target.
Why it matters
The analysis links current macroeconomic challenges directly to political policy decisions, offering a counter-narrative to purely monetary explanations for inflation.
Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi has now raised a new warning for Americans. Zandi said that America’s stubborn inflation problem is not a mystery but it’s the result of deliberate policy decisions. In a breakdown shared via a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) Zandi noted that inflation has run above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for 64 straight months, with headline inflation at 3.5%. He also wrote that when you ‘net out the inflation tailwinds and headwinds, it’s clear the uncomfortably high inflation is the result of policy choices’.
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