Inflation Expectations and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Japanese Experience in 2020

抄録

The aim of our study is to determine the characteristics of inflation expectations during the early period of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan based on panel data. We examined this main hypothesis: vulnerable people tend to have higher inflation expectations as shown by two points. First, the finding that women who are seen as vulnerable have higher inflation expectations is strongly robust. Second, vulnerable people who have a negative perception of their standard of living and the socioeconomic environment also have higher inflation expectations.