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[Joseph_E._Stiglitz,_Carl_E._Walsh]_Economics(Bookos.org) (1)

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200

180

160

CPI (1982–1984 = 100)

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

1920

1930 1940

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Figure 28.1

THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

During the past ninety years, the consumer price index has increased enormously. Most

of the rise has occurred since 1973.

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

conducted by the Federal Reserve System. In this chapter, you will learn about the

Federal Reserve and the policy tools it can use to affect the money supply.

Prices and Inflation

The discussion of the long-run, full employment model in Chapter 24 was conducted

entirely in real terms; real output, real employment, real saving and investment,

real wages, and the real rate of interest. We were able to explain the factors that determine

the economy’s full-employment output level (potential GDP) without any mention

of the aggregate price level. We could do so because the economy’s real equilibrium

at full employment is independent of the level of prices. That is, regardless of whether

the average level of prices is high or low, potential GDP is the same. This implication

is represented in Figure 28.3, which has real output on the horizontal axis and

the price level on the vertical axis. Potential GDP is denoted by Y f . Since Y f is determined

by labor demand and labor supply (both of which depend on real wages) and

the economy’s aggregate production function (which depends on the state of technology

and the capital stock), it will be the same at all price levels. Because fullemployment

output is independent of the price level, we have drawn a vertical line

in Figure 28.3 at Y f .

The price level simply tells us how many dollars (or euros in France or Germany,

yen in Japan, pesos in Mexico) it takes to buy a basket of goods and services. We

measure the price level by using price indexes (see Chapter 23), most commonly

either the GDP deflator or the consumer price index (CPI). The GDP deflator reflects

606 ∂ CHAPTER 28 MONEY, THE PRICE LEVEL, AND THE FEDERAL RESERVE

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