The Rate of Inflation

Read this article about the pattern of US prices and inflation rates from 1913 to the present. Pay particular attention to the charts that show the comparison between US rates and those of other countries worldwide.

Key Concepts and Summary

In the U.S. economy, the annual inflation rate in the last two decades has typically been around 2% to 4%. The periods of highest inflation in the United States in the twentieth century occurred during the years after World Wars I and II, and in the 1970s. The period of lowest inflation – actually, with deflation – was the Great Depression of the 1930s.