Economic policy has been transformed in 2020, but there's a sleeping giant. Some economists

are afraid of waking.

Will the coronavirus pandemic usher in a new era of high inflation?

You're listening to money talks on economist radio,

our weekly podcast on the markets, the economy and the world of business. I'm Simon long.

And coming up today, how one of the world's biggest pension funds is navigating rock-bottom interest rates, the risks of the pandemic era, and

the specter of inflation.

We do think people will come back to hospitality and leisure travel and other aspects of experience.

We are taking some of those bets.

And the remarkable resilience of America's restaurant chains.

Chines certainly had advantages going in among those the ability to sit back and

plan new strategies for the pandemic to roll out across different locations. Living with high inflation is grim.

Living with high inflation is grim.

Rapid, continuous increases in prices devalue hard-earned wages, shrivel people's precious

savings and make planning ahead all but impossible.

In the 1970s, inflation averaged 10% a year in the rich world.

But these days, policy makers are more likely to worry about inflation being too low than too high.

In the past decade, in most of the rich world it's tended

to undershoot central bank targets, usually 2%, and during the pandemic it's fallen even further. However a small but vocal band

of economists and investors are voicing concerns that the coronavirus pandemic may

usher in a new inflationary era.

The mainstream view of economists, of central bankers and also investors

...