Discuss the View That, as an Economy Reaches Full Employment, Inflation Will Inevitably Accelerate (25)

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Discuss the view that, as an economy reaches full employment, inflation will inevitably accelerate (25) Full employment occurs when AD=LRAS i.e. when an economy is producing at its long run production possibility boundary. Inflation can be defined as a sustained increase in the general level of prices. When an economy is at full employment, labour markers are in equilibrium; Labour supply = Labour demand, this is also known as the natural rate of unemployment. There is a dispute amongst economists on the subject of whether a “Trade off” exists between inflation and unemployment. According to the Phillips Curve, in the short run, if a government tries to reduce unemployment there will be an inevitable rise in inflation. In the diagram below the government reduces unemployment from 5% to 3% ant it leads to a rise in inflation from 2% to 6%. This theory supports the fact that any efforts made by governments to reach full employment will lead to inevitable inflationary pressures. This view is supported by AD/AS analysis: Originally the economy is at “P1, Y1” and there is a large negative output gap (YFE-Y1), which means that unemployment is high. A government may use expansionary fiscal policy to try and boost “AD1” to “AD2” in order to reflate the economy so that it is closer to the productive potential. As the output gap is shortened (YFE-Y2) there is a fall in unemployment as well as an increase in inflation from “P1” to “P2”. This is known as demand-pull inflation. We can explain the acceleration in the rate of inflation by looking at what happens in the labour market. As output rises, unemployment will fall and supply of labour is reduced (Tightening Labour Market). Firms must compete to attract skilled workers and as a result wages rise, this leads to an increase in costs of production, which ultimately feeds through as higher prices. If AD continues

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