The Age-Structure–Inflation Puzzle

21 Pages Posted: 6 Apr 2016 Last revised: 18 Nov 2021

See all articles by Mikael Juselius

Mikael Juselius

Bank of Finland

Előd Takáts

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

Date Written: April 2, 2016

Abstract

We uncover a puzzling link between low-frequency inflation and the population age-structure: the young and old (dependents) are inflationary whereas the working age population is disinflationary. The relationship is not spurious and holds for different specifications and controls in data from 22 advanced economies from 1955 to 2014. The age-structure effect is economically sizable, accounting eg for about 6.5 percentage points of US disinflation from 1975 to today’s low inflation environment. It also accounts for much of inflation persistence, which challenges traditional narratives of trend inflation. The age-structure effect is forecastable and will increase inflationary pressures over the coming decades.

Keywords: demography, ageing, inflation, monetary policy

JEL Classification: E31, E52, J11

Suggested Citation

Juselius, Mikael and Takáts, Előd, The Age-Structure–Inflation Puzzle (April 2, 2016). Bank of Finland Research Discussion Paper No. 4/2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2759780 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2759780

Mikael Juselius (Contact Author)

Bank of Finland ( email )

P.O. Box 160
Helsinki 00101
Finland

Előd Takáts

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) ( email )

Centralbahnplatz 2
Basel, Basel-Stadt 4002
Switzerland

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
436
Abstract Views
1,600
Rank
122,312
PlumX Metrics