Inflation is back, and its impact can be felt everywhere, from the grocery store to the mortgage market to the results of elections around the world. What's more, tariffs and trade wars threaten to accelerate inflation again. Yet the conventional wisdom about inflation is stuck in the past. Since the 1970s, there has only really been one playbook for fighting inflation: raise interest rates, thereby creating unemployment and a recession, which will lower prices. But this simple story hides a multitude of beliefs about why prices go up and how policymakers can wrestle them back down, beliefs that are often wrong, damaging, and have little empirical basis. Leading political economists Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli reveal why inflation really happens, challenge how we think about it, and argue for fresh approaches to combat it. With accessible and engaging commentary, and a good dose of humor, Blyth and Fraccaroli bring the complexities of economic policy and inflation indices down to earth. Policymakers around the world may have pulled off a so-called "soft landing," but Inflation warns they must update their thinking. Now tariffs, climate shocks, demographic change, geopolitical tensions, and politicians promising to upend the global order are all combining to create a more inflationary future, making a new paradigm for understanding inflation urgently necessary. Astute, timely, and engaging, Inflation is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the forces shaping our economy and politics.

"[A] brilliant primer about a phenomenon that we thought was behind us but has come back with a vengeance." -- Edward Luce - Financial Times
"An essential dose of clear thinking on one of the most contentious issues in economic policy. In an age of increasing uncertainty, if we are to avoid a retreat to knee-jerk austerity, we need a new inflation playbook. This is an excellent start." -- Adam Tooze, author of the Chartbook Substack and professor of history at Columbia University
"Inflation is a serious contender for the most misunderstood and weaponized issue in economics and politics. The authors do a great service to their readers by explaining what is at stake in the heated debates of recent years." -- Isabella Weber, award-winning economist and author of How China Escaped Shock Therapy
"This wonderful book demystifies competing narratives about inflation to prepare you for a world in which the winners and losers may have to deal with the price hikes caused by climate change and geopolitics." -- Dani Rodrik, author of The Globalization Paradox
"Understanding the recent rise and fall of inflation is essential. Inflation clearly analyzes pandemic-era inflation while making the compelling argument that the go-to tools of higher interest rates by central banks must be reconsidered." -- Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors and creator of the Sahm Rule
"Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli convincingly argue that we are entering the age of supply-side driven inflation. As economic fragmentation increases, supply chains break, and economic coercion replaces competition. Inflation will prepare you for the new normal." -- Branko Milanovic, author of Capitalism, Alone

Mark Blyth is a political economist and professor at Brown University. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Nicolò Fraccaroli is an economist at the World Bank and a visiting scholar at Brown University. He lives in Washington, DC.