Migration's impact on inflation – it all depends

More temporary migrants have lower demand impacts i.e. they might not buy a house. (Image: Getty)

Mon, 25 Mar 2024

With migration flows at near-record levels, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has been pondering its relationship with inflation.Unfortunately, according to Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) chief economist Paul Conway, there are no clear rules of thumb.This contrasts with, say, the relationship between inflation and government spending, where it’s already well understood that if the latter expands, then our central bank needs to cool the inflationary jets.Exceptionally highNZ has exceptionally high migration per capita, both inward and outward, co...

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