Hyman Minsky would have had a field day with last week’s US inflation numbers. One of the key points in the late, great economist’s Financial Instability Hypothesis was that there are two kinds of prices — prices for goods and services, and asset prices. Inflation in the two areas should, as a result, differ. And indeed they have, quite markedly. The latest Consumer Price Index figures show that almost all core inflation, which was weaker than expected, was in rent or the owner’s equivalent of rent (up 0.3 per cent). Core goods inflation, meanwhile, was down 0.2 per cent.
海曼•明斯基(Hyman Minsky)如果還在世，肯定會對上週美國公佈的通膨數據感到得意。這位已故偉大經濟學家提出的「金融不穩定假說」(Financial Instability Hypothesis)的要點之一，就是存在兩種價格：一是商品和服務的價格，二是資產價格。因此，這兩個領域的通膨應該有所不同。實際上它們的確不一樣，而且相當明顯。最新的消費者價格指數(CPI)數據顯示，幾乎所有的核心通膨（低於預期）都源自租金或業主的租金等價物（上漲0.3%）。與此同時，核心商品通膨下降了0.2%。