Inflation scenarios from history
Each one is a real episode you can replay in the simulator. Read the story, then open it and pull the levers yourself.
1970s Stagflation
How the twin oil shocks of the 1970s, accommodative monetary policy, and un-anchored expectations produced high inflation and high unemployment at the same time.
The Volcker Disinflation
How Fed Chair Paul Volcker broke double-digit US inflation in the early 1980s by pushing interest rates to ~19%, at the cost of the deepest recession since the 1930s.
Covid Inflation (2021–2023)
How a pandemic supply shock combined with large fiscal and monetary stimulus produced the highest US inflation in 40 years, and why economists still argue over the mix of supply versus demand.
The 2008 Financial Crash
How the 2008 financial crisis caused a collapse in demand, pushing the economy toward deflation and mass unemployment, with interest rates stuck at zero.
Argentina’s 1989 Hyperinflation
How chronic fiscal deficits financed by the printing press tipped Argentina into hyperinflation in 1989, with prices rising thousands of percent in a year.
High Debt & Monetization
What happens when a heavily indebted government leans on the central bank to finance its deficits: the milder, more common cousin of hyperinflation, and why tight money alone cannot fix it.
Loss of Central-Bank Credibility
What happens when people stop believing the central bank will control inflation: expectations un-anchor, shocks linger, and bringing inflation back down becomes far more costly.
Productivity Boom (1990s)
How the late-1990s IT-driven productivity boom let the US economy run hot, with very low unemployment, while inflation stayed quiet.
Want the underlying ideas? Read the concept explainers →