Skift Take
Stagflation, or a mix of slow growth and high prices, would be an unfamiliar crisis. Even the shrewdest hotel executives and investors would need to be on guard.
Hotel executives may be tuning out talk of future stagflation as they focus on serving today's pent-up demand. But some economists worry that stagflation could emerge in the U.S., Europe, or Japan.
What is stagflation for those who didn't live through it in the U.S. in the 1970s? It's a strange brew of weak growth and stubborn price escalation. If left unchecked, it boosts unemployment in a way that hamstrings policymakers trying to escape it.
In the past month, about three out of four investment fund managers surveyed by Bank of America Global Research predicted U.S. stagflation. The former chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke said stagflation is a risk, as did billionaire Ray Dalio and the Financial Times' chief economics commentator Martin Wolf. Possible stagflation drivers include the pandemic's shocks to supply chains, spiking energy costs, and possible missteps by central bankers and governments.
"It's been decades since we've had the s
Photo Credit: A guestroom at the Sir Joan hotel in Ibiza. Source: Sircle Collection Hotels. Unsplash / Eunice Stahl