President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan is stalled, and the next steps are unclear. Some Democrats are talking about the need for new pandemic-relief measures, even as the White House is reportedly looking at a stripped-down version of the original proposal. Meanwhile, most analysts are giving short shrift to an issue that deserves more thought: how Build Back Better would make it harder to fight inflation.
True, some of the same economists who (presciently, as it turns out) warned last year that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act would increase inflation remain worried about inflation. But economists such as Larry Summers and Jason Furman also support Build Back Better.
