Exactly the case.

https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/inflation-and-you

When speaking of inflation, I think it’s best to do it in two different terms: Monetary inflation, which is a rise in the money supply (the DuckTales scenario), and price inflation, which is a rise in prices. Though intertwined, these things are quite different.

First, monetary inflation. This is a pretty basic measurement. How many dollars are floating around out there?

As you can see, monetary inflation has been increasing and accelerating since Nixon went ‘full fiat’ in the 1970s. Since then, the number of dollars in the system has been doubling about every 11 years, with covid rapidly accelerating that trend.

Price inflation is often related to and affected by monetary inflation, though MANY additional factors impact price inflation. A shortage of goods, additional cost of links in the supply chain, rising labor costs, and additional regulations all negatively affect price inflation. On the other side of the equation, improved efficiency, cheaper materials, reduced regulations, or increased automation tend to drive prices down (though rarely enough to actually see price decreases).

In a way, monetary inflation provides a sort of ‘baseline’ price inflation rate to the economy. Think of it as a wave pool with variable settings. At a low rate of monetary inflation, it’s easy to move. The higher the rate, the more you have to ‘fight’ to move forward. Set the machine too high and you’ll be overcome. Monetary inflation is the ‘rising tide’ that lifts all prices.