The Importance of Price Elasticity in the Economy

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The phenomenon of ex-cucilation is endemic in small and mid-sized businesses. Ex-cucflation allows companies to raise prices all at the same time, says economist Isabella Weber. It's almost like a de facto cartel, right? Everyone decides to raise their prices all at once because whatever crucial component or input cost is going up.

Inflation happens for a lot of reasons that can be hard for even economists to fully grasp. But — as we learned this spring in an episode we’re rerunning today — there’s also a more straightforward reason prices keep going up: greedy corporations are using inflation as an excuse to jack up prices.

This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King.

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