Economist Nouriel Roubini Says Recession Can Still Rear its Head 

Nouriel Roubini is a Turkish-Iranian-American economist famous for predicting the global financial crisis. Due to that, he’s also known as “Dr. Doom”. Recently, he shared his view on recession in an interview. He said that the markets are too optimistic about the future. He also said that the Feds are likely to keep the rates high for some time now.

Glimpse into Nouriel Roubini’s Interview

The economist highlighted that there are multiple factors that are keeping inflation looming right now. He also said that the central bank will have to wait for a long time to bring it to 2%. The markets are expecting it to happen soon but assuming that would be a mistake. In fact, that is motivating the feds to cut the rates so aggressively. While the Feds are sticking to this practice, the central bank is also following suit.

He further stated that an economic downturn can anytime hit the United States. For that, he attributed the successive acceleration of interest rates. According to Roubini, the higher oil prices are making the already stiff economy even worse. As a result, a situation of economic slowdown is making becoming more imminent. 

However, the silver lining is that it won’t be very hard-hitting this time. He stated that most probably, the US would face a short and shallow recession. Now, these theories haven’t been debated yet. Still, they’re making a point since the economy is not particularly boosting right now. Among the few reasons, he cited credit issues as one of them. Besides that, he named oil prices, tightened financial conditions, and lowered economic activity. 

The world economy has been in the doldrums for quite some time. Economists have pointed out the reasons and some of them are quite obvious as well. Let’s take a review of a few of these driving factors.

Factors Affecting Inflation in the US

Economists have given the following reasons behind the ongoing inflation. From war to a changing work culture, it spans quite a few things. 

Russia-Ukraine War

It has been more than two years and neither of the nations seem to be budging from their stance. 

Demand in Housing Market and WFH Culture

The adoption of work-from-home is bringing some massive changes in the housing market. The cost of housing is at the highest of all times right now. While the SOHO setups are failing, homebuyers are going for better options. 

Switch From Services to Goods

It’s a shift in lifestyle that’s taking a toll. Following the “do-it-yourself” culture, people are ditching services and fixing things themselves. A good example of this is that people are opting for fitness equipment instead of gym membership.

Vulnerable Supply Chain Systems

After the pandemic, it’s the increase in goods delivery that throttling the industry. It exposed the logisticians to many issues including raises freights and other charges.

While some factors may be controllable, some are not. For example, no one really knows when the war will stop. Even on the other fronts, it seems that the government is taking steps. However, the economy involves various things that depend on each other. Therefore, it’s hard to tell whether there’s a silver bullet to fix everything. The world will have to wait and see how things unfold in the future. 

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Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/09/21/economist-nouriel-roubini-says-recession-can-still-rear-its-head/