Determinants of Wage Inflation around the World

George L. Perry

George L. Perry Senior Fellow Emeritus - Economic Studies

Discussants: Gardner Ackley and

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Gardner Ackley University of Michigan

William D. Nordhaus

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William D. Nordhaus

SINCE 1973, dramatic and disruptive increases in the prices of fuel and food have captured the spotlight in discussions of price inflation in the United States and other economies. Besides contributing to substantial accelerationsin consumer prices, these increases have spurred larger edistributions of purchasing power, both within and between nations, and have imposed balance-of-payments difficulties on many countries. As a result of these developments themselves, and of the unwillingness of governments and central banks to offset their depressing effects on real economic activity, the explosions in food and fuel prices have been major causes of the present deep recessions in most nations.