Inflation has fallen quite a bit, and that is obviously really good news. But I think the key question here is whether policy is responsible? And the answer to that one is pretty complicated right now. Some of the decline in inflation that we're seeing is a result of policy from the Federal Reserve. But a lot of it is luck, which is to say that raising interest rates had little or nothing to do with it.
Rapid inflation has been a problem in the United States for more than two years, but the tide appears to be turning. Annual inflation is now less than half of what it was last summer.
Jeanna Smialek, who covers the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for The Times, discusses whether the decline is a result of careful policymaking, or more of a lucky accident.
Guest: Jeanna Smialek, a Federal Reserve correspondent for The New York Times.
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