Inflation Expectations

Inflation Expectations refer to the opinion on the future inflation rate from different sections of the society, including investors, bankers, central banks, workers, business people. Thus, they consider this rate while basing their decisions concerning various economic activities that they would like to undertake in the future.

The Feds aim to maximize employment and achieve price stability in the economy. However, they also look to achieve an inflation rate of around 2%. Monetary policies and economic developments can have a major effect on the expectations of inflation in an economy. However, the Feds try to anchor the inflation rate to around 2%.

• Inflation expectations represent the anticipated future inflation rate from various segments of society, including investors, bankers, Central Banks, workers, and businesspeople. 
• These expectations play a significant role in influencing their economic decisions and activities.
• There are two main methods to determine inflation expectations: survey-based methods, where individuals are directly asked about their inflation expectations, and market-based methods, which use financial market data to infer inflation expectations.
• Inflation expectations serve as a precautionary measure, guiding actions and policies towards the expected outcome by taking into account the sentiments and opinions of different economic sectors. 

Inflation expectations are the anticipation of rise in prices from the perspective of consumers, analysts, investors, and businesses. It plays an important role in the actual rise in inflation as businesses would want to increase their prices by the percentage of expected inflation irrespective of if the prices actually soar by that much.

Consumer inflation expectations certainly have their advantages as it factors in the expectations of the various sectors of the economy, thereby enabling the decision-makers to adopt the right decisions in their respective roles, be it households, business, or even central banks. Inflation expectations thus serve as a precautionary measure to headwind the actions towards the desired results by factoring in the sentiment and opinions of different economic sections.

When the Feds declare the US inflation expectations, it so happens that the consumers usually expect the inflation to rise higher according to a Michigan University study. However, the Feds strive to anchor the inflation rate to 2% so that the consumers do not react adversely when the inflation rate is higher than expected for a short-term window.

The two major forums to find what the economy is expecting are the consumers or household and the market itself. Let us discuss both these methods of finding the consumer inflation expectations through the discussion below.

#1 - Survey Based Method

Central banks of many countries go on to ascertain the forward-looking expected inflation in the country by undertaking surveys that would enable them to adopt the right strategy, be it expansionary or conservative, for that matter.

Example:

For example, the Federal Bank of New York has undertaken a survey of consumer expectations every year ever since the year 2013 June.

• It is done through a nationally representative body of a rotating panel of around 1300 household heads.
• It is undertaken for 12 months, with the panel consisting of an equal number rotating in and out frequently.
• It revolves around economic outcomes relating to the labor market, inflation, household finance, etc.
• The survey tracks the age, education, income, house ownership status, employment history, etc. that of the respondent.

Some of the questions undertaken as a part of the survey to gauge the sentiment and inflation expectations of the consumers are listed as under

1. Do you think your family is better off than 12 months ago?
2. Do you think your family will be better off in the next 12 months
3. What do you think will be the interest on SB accounts 12 years from now
4. Do you think the stock prices will be higher than that they are now
5. Over the next few months do you think there will be inflation or deflation?
6. What do you expect the rate of inflation to be in the next 12 months
7. What is the current employment situation?

Further, another example of the survey-based measure would be that of the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF), which tends to be a group that would closely track the economy as a whole. 

The SPF would provide specific forecasts of inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) and the personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE).

#2 - Market-Based Method

Under this method, the gauge of inflation in the economy is done by understanding the TIPS (Treasury Inflated Protected Securities), which increases the bond's principal amount on par with inflation. This method understands the price difference between the Treasury note and the real inflation-protected security that trade in the market.

For example, If one were to consider the yield on a ten-year bond of a  country is 4.5%. Then the yield on the same country's 10-year inflation-protected bongos is 2.5%. We can thus infer that the market is currently pricing in a 4.5% – 2.5% = 2% average annual inflation over the next ten years.

The TIPS method can be considered informative as it tends to react more to all of the incoming information.

Let us understand the advantages of the US inflation expectations through the discussion below.

• Business decision making: Businesses consider the expected rate of inflation to make certain decisions concerning firm pricing and negotiate certain contracts or even when it comes to wage negotiations. They may make certain changes in their products, be it in terms of quantity or price, to accommodate the expected rise in prices in the future brought in by inflation.
• Household decision making: By factoring in the necessary increase in prices of all essential household goods, groceries and consumption materials, the households will rationally decide the upcoming budget and try to save money into wealth enhancement avenues such as the stock market to ensure inflation does not erode the real value of money with time.
• Inflation targeting by central banks: By being able to gauge the necessary sentiment and expectations of the households and businesses, the central banks may be able to stir the economy by adopting the required expansionary/contractionary monetary policies to target inflation as per the set framework.

Even though it plays an important role for businesses, government, and consumers, there are a few hurdles that prove to be a disadvantage. Let us understand them through the explanation below.

• Time-consuming: The survey method of inflation, which is to be undertaken by interviewing several households, is often a very time-consuming affair and certainly demands laborious efforts from the research team.
• Deviations from actual: More often than not, the expected inflation will deviate from the actual inflation in the economy.
• Self-sustaining character: Usually, it is noticed that once inflation goes on to become embedded in a country, the businesses, consumers, workers, and all of the economic actors of every kind will begin to expect it certainly and thus build those expectations into their actions.
• In turn, this collective reaction on their side creates sort of an inflationary momentum of its own. Such expectations would give inflation more of an autonomous character and cause it to persist in the economy even after the initial cause has disappeared.

This has been a guide to Inflation Expectations definition. Here we explain how to find expected inflation, examples, advantages & disadvantages. You can learn more about economics from the following articles –

• Inflationary Gap
• Cost-Push Inflation
• Deflation vs Disinflation
• Hyperinflation Examples