As you've probably noticed, I expect a recession next year, and I'm not alone, as this has become the baseline scenario for many financial institutions and analysts. Even the DSGE model used by the New York Fed shows an 80% probability of a hard landing over the next ten quarters. Reasons? Inflation and the Fed's tightening cycle. The history is clear: whenever inflation has been above 5%, the Fed's hikes in interest rates have always resulted in an economic downturn.
If the calls for stagflation are correct, it suggests that the coming recession won't be mild or short-lived, as it's not easy to combat it. In the early 1980s, Paul Volcker had to raise the federal funds rate to above 17%, and later even 19% , to defeat inflation, which triggered a painful double-dip recession.
However, financial markets remain very fragile. A recent example might be the turmoil in the UK after the government proposed unfunded tax cuts that altered the price of Treasury bonds and negatively affected the financial situation of pension funds. The level of both private and public debt as a share of global GDP is much higher today than in the past, having risen from about 200% in 1999 to about 350% today.
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