No end to inflation

This is with reference to your editorial, New ideas needed to revive the economy (Sept. 14). In the early 1980s, two major economies were targeting inflation: Margaret Thatcher and Federal Reserve chief Paul A. Volcker. Thatcher ended up mauling growth to an extent that the UK lost 15 per cent of its industrial base. Volcker was fired by Ronald Reagan for not bringing in adequate deregulation. Volcker was a conventional monetarist who did not believe in “financial innovation” as being necessary for a healthy economy. Theorists talk of a 30-year economic cycle and we seem to be in it right now. Excessive inflation targeting may likely end no differently in circa 2016.

R. Narayanan

Ghaziabad