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Economic Report of the President

Report - The American Presidency Project

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price decisions cannot easily be reversed. Wages are <strong>of</strong>ten set for atleast a year, and under most major union contracts <strong>the</strong>y are set for 3years. There are also many advantages to both buyers and sellers inavoiding frequent product price changes. As a consequence, decisionmakershave to think not only about market conditions at present butalso about what <strong>the</strong>y are likely to be in <strong>the</strong> future. Thus, both currentand expected,aggregate demand influence <strong>the</strong> rate <strong>of</strong> inflation. Moreover,a firm's decisions today about what wages to <strong>of</strong>fer or whatprices to set for any future period will be conditioned by its expectationsabout <strong>the</strong> wages its competitors will pay and <strong>the</strong> prices its competitorswill charge, and by <strong>the</strong> incomes that will be earned by itscustomers. In short, today's inflation rate is strongly influenced bywhat people expect it to be tomorrow.It was excess aggregate demand during <strong>the</strong> Vietnam war that droveup <strong>the</strong> underlying rate <strong>of</strong> inflation from 1 percent to 4 or 5 percentby <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1960s. Although increases in oil and food priceswere <strong>the</strong> principal causes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> next two inflationary surges, pressuresfrom aggregate demand again played an identifiable role. Themost troublesome feature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> inflation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> past 15 years, however,has been <strong>the</strong> fact that after each <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> three inflationary episodes<strong>the</strong> underlying rate <strong>of</strong> inflation did not fall back to its earlierlevel. To what extent was this outcome a demand-related phenomenon?TABLE 3.—Selected indicators <strong>of</strong> declining demand pressures[Percent, except as noted]1969 peak ys 1970recession1973 peak ys 1975recession1980 peak ys 1980recessionItem1968 1to1969 IV1970 1to1971 IV1973 Ito1974 (I1974 HIto1976 IV1979 \to1980 I1980 IIto1980 IV *Average level:Manufacturing weekly overtime (hours)3.62.93.72.93.32.7Unemployment rate: TotalMales 20 years and overVendors reporting slower delivery3.52.1595.53.9494.93.3867.75.9435.94.2607.56.42 38Manufacturing capacity utilization:Primary processing industriesAdvanced processing industriesChange during period: 388.185.982.676.991.984.279.376.387.583.92 76.12 78.3Producer prices for crude materials excluding food andfuel 4 ..... *4.31.637.02.726.111.8Unemployment rate (percentage points)..— .32.4-.22.6.31.31 Preliminary.2 fourth quarter 1980 not available; November used as fourth quarter average.3 Change from quarter preceding start <strong>of</strong> period shown.4 Annual rates. Data prior to 1973 from series seasonally adjusted by Council <strong>of</strong> <strong>Economic</strong> Advisers.Note.—Based on seasonally adjusted data, except vendor performance.Sources: Department <strong>of</strong> Labor (Bureau <strong>of</strong> Labor Statistics), Board <strong>of</strong> Governors <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Federal Reserve System, PurchasingManagement Association <strong>of</strong> Chicago, and Council <strong>of</strong> <strong>Economic</strong> Advisers.39

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