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2024 Feb/19
Assessing the likelihood of a structural shift in interest rates (II): Economic structural change and inflation
Research Papers 24-05
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- Research Topic Macrofinance
- Page 137
- Summary
- This study analyses the impact of economic structural variables, with a focus on globalisation and demographics, on the low inflation rate in Korea and the United States, and assesses whether changes in the inflation rate may occur in the future. This article examines the low inflationary conditions that have persisted since the 1980s from two perspectives: the flattening of the Phillips curve and the downward stabilisation of trend inflation. The flattening of the Phillips curve refers to the dampening of the sensitivity of inflation to the domestic economy, while the downward stabilization of trend inflation refers to the lowering of the underlying inflation rate, i.e. the long-term trend of inflation. From the 1980s to before the coronavirus pandemic, U.S.-Korean inflation was characterized by a downward stabilisation of trend inflation, while the flattening of the Phillips curve weakened the pro-cyclical nature of inflation, resulting in a stable low inflation rate.
This study empirically examines whether this low inflationary trend can be attributed to structural changes in the economy, such as globalisation and demographic change, along with the stability of long-term inflation expectations due to successful inflation management by central banks.
Before presenting the results of the analysis, we summarise the trends of globalisation and demographic changes in Korea and the United States from 1980 to 2020, the period of analysis. First, the world economy, including the Korean economy, entered the hyper-globalisation era in the 1990s, with significant progress of globalization. The U.S.-Korea globalisation entered the slowbalization phase around 2008 (U.S.) and 2013 (Korea), respectively. Next, this paper examines the demographic structure, focusing on the proportion of the working-age population (15~64 years old) and the elderly population (65+ years old) to the total population. The working-age population ratio in both countries has generally been on the rise since 1980, but it began to decline in the United States in 2008-2009 and in Korea in 2012-2013. In particular, the decline in the working-age population in Korea has been sharper than in the United States. As a result, the proportion of elderly people is increasing in both countries, but the proportion of elderly people in Korea is rising steeper than the United States.
The impact of these globalisation and demographic changes on the low inflation rate in Korea and the United States is as follows. First, our analysis shows that globalisation has played an important role in the flattening of the US-Korea Phillips curve. This result is observed for both headline and core inflation. In the case of the United States, where we were able to examine the role of long-term inflation expectations, the stabilization of inflation expectations also contributed to the decline in the cyclical sensitivity of inflation.
In our empirical analysis, globalisation is also found to have played a key role in the downward stabilisation of US and Korean trend inflation. After a large decline during the hyperglobalisation period, trend inflation in the two countries remained stable until the pandemic, suggesting that the decline in trend inflation during the hyperglobalisation period was largely driven by globalisation. This can be understood as a result of cost-efficiency improvements and increased competition among firms due to globalisation, as discussed in the existing literature. The impact of globalisation on trend inflation has been significantly lower in the US and Korea since around 2008 (US) and 2013 (Korea), respectively, reflecting the fact that globalisation in each country entered a plateau around the same time. In the United States, the stabilization of central bank-managed inflation expectations also contributed to the decline in trend inflation, with the impact mainly concentrated in the early to mid-1980s.
Second, differences were observed in the impact of demographic change on trend inflation between the two countries. First, in both countries, trend inflation rose as the share of the working-age population declined. This can be understood as a decrease in labour supply in the economy leading to higher inflation. On the other hand, for the elderly population share, trend inflation increased as the share increased in the US, but decreased in Korea. In the US, the elderly population can be attributed to their role as net consumers, consuming more than they produce. The elderly in Korea have been steadily increasing their participation in productive activities, and their spending power is much lower, so they have not been able to act as an inflationary force, unlike in the US.
The impact of demographics on trend inflation changed significantly when the baby boomers began to retire in each country (around 2008 in the US and 2013 in Korea). In both countries, the impact of demographic change on trend inflation was statistically significant, but economically limited compared to globalisation. In both countries, the impact of globalisation on trend inflation has largely outweighed the demographic effect.
However, in both countries, the impact of demographics on trend inflation has increased significantly as the baby boomers have begun to enter the elderly population. In the U.S., the share of the elderly population has been rising since before 2008, which has contributed to higher inflation, while the share of the working-age population has been declining since 2008, which has added upward pressure on inflation. As a result, after 2008, the impact of demographics on trend inflation exceeded the effect of globalisation and became a significant inflationary factor.
In Korea, the proportion of the elderly population has steadily increased since 1980, which has acted as a downward pressure on inflation. In addition, the share of the working-age population ended its upward trend around 2013 and entered a downward trend, turning it from a depressant to an inflationary factor. Until 2020, the period of empirical analysis in this study, the downward pressure on inflation due to the increase in the share of the elderly population was higher than the upward pressure on inflation due to the decrease in the share of the working-age population. However, using Statistics Korea's future population projections, it is estimated that from 2025 onwards, the upward pressure on trend inflation from the declining share of the working-age population will outweigh the downward pressure on trend inflation from the increasing share of the elderly population. This suggests that Korea's demographics are likely to be a structural driver of inflation in the future.
Along with a possible retreat from globalisation in the future, both Korea and the US are expected to experience a demographic transition in which the share of the working-age population declines and the share of the elderly increases for a considerable period of time. Applying the results of this study's empirical analysis to these economic structural changes, it is assessed that the low inflation rate that has remained stable in both Korea and the U.S. is likely to end and inflation volatility is likely to increase structurally. The steepening of the Phillips curve as a result of globalisation is likely to restore the cyclical sensitivity of inflation, which could lead to a structural increase in inflation volatility. We also expect trend inflation to rise as globalisation recedes.