By Breakingviews
The death in December of Paul Volcker, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve and famed inflation fighter, is a reminder that galloping price increases used to be a problem. In recent years, though, inflation has largely gone missing. Its return in 2020 would be an unexpected bright spot.
Not, of course, the kind of inflation Volcker countered with tough monetary policy in the early 1980s, when annual price increases topped 10% in America. Or the debilitating 50% annual rate in Argentina as of October. But there’s a lot to be said for