EconEdLink

Phillips Curve

This lesson explores the relationship of unemployment to inflation in the 1960s and after. Students will discover the short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment when unemployment is less than its natural rate. Students will learn how wage setters formed adaptive expectations about future inflation and included these in their wage demands. At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to graph and analyze the effects of a policy to hold unemployment below its natural rate. The goal is for students to see the link between the Phillips Curve and the short-run aggregate supply curve.