72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes
6 hours ago
- #Inflation Analysis
- #Economic History
- #CPI Data
- The US dollar has lost 96.9% of its purchasing power since 1914, with the CPI rising from 10.0 to 327.5, a 32.7× multiplier.
- 72% of cumulative price increases occurred in four concentrated episodes: WWI (1916–1920), WWII and post-war boom (1941–1951), Great Inflation (1968–1982), and post-COVID surge (2021–2023), spanning only 29% of the time.
- The Great Inflation of 1968–1982 alone accounts for 30.2% of purchasing power destruction, more than WWI and WWII combined.
- Inflation history shows episodic shocks rather than gradual erosion, with deflation absent since April 2015 and median annual inflation at 2.7% over the full sample.
- Current inflation as of February 2026 is 2.4%, placing it at the 46th percentile historically and in the 'Moderate' regime (2–4% YoY).
- The dataset classifies inflation into seven regimes, with 'Moderate' (2–4% YoY) being the most common at 32.0% of observations.