January 14, 2015

Why are not shares, properties in London, or famous paintings, not included as part of nominal demand?

Sir you hold that “deflation is bad if accompanied by falling nominal demand, and benign otherwise”, “Central bankers steered towards the wrong target” January 14. That sounds about right… (Unless you are an oil supplier of course)

What I cannot understand though is why increasing demand for art, shares and property has nothing to do with increasing nominal demand. In terms of overall purchasing capacity, there is little doubt that the inflation has been much much higher than that reported looking exclusively at a subjectively selected basket of goods.

It is not that I can buy much or any of that luxury, I am no plutocrat… but that does not mean that the distance to my dreams has not increased... dramatically.