Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance, examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away, including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit onfinance.org.

In the battle against inflation, some new villains have emerged, Beyonce and Taylor Swift, or

Tate, as she's known on this channel. Higher interest rates are supposed to reduce the demand for goods and services, especially

discretionary goods.

Both the US Federal Reserve and the ECB have been raising rates quite aggressively of late,

and they both hiked interest rates once again this week. US rates are now at the highest level in 22 years, and European rates are at their record

high, matching the level they reached in 2001 when the ECB was trying to boost the value

of the newly launched euro.

So why after a series of interest rate hikes and a surge

in the price of essential goods like food and energy are we seeing Taylor Swift's latest tour

break records and Beyonce stand accused of boosting the entire nation of Sweden's inflation rate

during her two nights day in Stockholm this May.

Beyonce's World Tour, her first solo tour in seven years, kicked off this May in Stockholm

and fans from around the world took advantage of the attractive exchange rate and flew in to buy tickets that worked out cheaper in Sweden

than in the United States or Britain at the time.

The type of ticket that would have cost $2,000 in the United States was going for around $200

in Stockholm.

So Beyonce fans, known as the Beehive, flew to Sweden booking up hotels

and restaurants leading to the Beyonce Blip. Fans allegedly booked up every hotel room for

40 miles around the concert venue. The country's CPI hit 9.7% that month, which was higher than expected,

and the local economist announced that Beyoncé was responsible. That's right, Beyonce stands

accused of inflicting economic hardship on the people of Sweden. Bruce Springsteen, Elton John,

...