EconomicReason

Many analysts agree that we are currently in a deflationary period, although they might disagree strongly about the outlook for inflation.

I think we are already inmidst serious inflation. Although consumer prices are falling in many countries, this does not imply we are experiencing deflation. Inflation is not defined as rising consumer prices, inflation is defined as a fall in the value of money because of an excessive increase in the quantity of money. Consumer prices are one (out of several) indicators of inflation. Because consumer prices are sticky, i.e. consumer goods are not traded on liquid markets, consumer prices are a lagging indicator of inflation. Most real-time indicators of inflation point to rather high inflation: growth rates of monetary aggregates around the world are massive, and the purchasing power of the US dollar has been falling on almost every liquid market for several months now (foreign currency, commodities, stocks). Consumer prices will probably follow other prices in due time.