deflationary spiral
1
9.5
- noun
- /dɪˈfleɪʃənɛri ˈspaɪrəl/
- Specialized
:
espiral deflacionaria
- He studied the Great Depression and is willing to do whatever it takes so that the United States avoids a deflationary spiral.
That is how you create a deflationary spiral.
- That is how you create a deflationary spiral.
- Far from generating hyperinflation, it may be the only way to avoid a deflationary spiral that rivals the Great Depression.
Examples
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The volatility of a deflationary spiral may, all other things being equal, be economically inefficient in and of itself.
Blog text (30) -
Unfortunately, this trend has simply exacerbated economic problems at the national level, leaving the government with the huge task of paying off the massive government debt while trying to break the deflationary spiral and cope with low birth rates and a corresponding fall in the number of workers.
Academic text (2001) -
I see nothing but a deflationary spiral that is picking up speed with every passing day.
Blog text (25) -
The real concern is whether it gets to a closed feedback loop, a deflationary spiral.
Blog text (9) -
We are experiencing some kind of deflationary spiral that cannot be stopped unless we inflate!
Blog text (12) -
The deflationary spiral had begun, and the timing couldn't have been worse.
Blog text (21) -
Far from generating hyperinflation, it may be the only way to avoid a deflationary spiral that rivals the Great Depression.
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To stave off the prospect of a deflationary spiral that could lead to a depression, the major governments of the world followed 20th-century textbook economics and injected colossal amounts of liquidity into the financial system.
Blog text (31) -
The country struggled with a deflationary spiral, as falling prices led to increased unemployment and further economic decline.
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Experts warned that if wages continue to drop, it could trigger a deflationary spiral affecting the entire economy.
Antonyms
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'deflationary' (relating to falling prices/increasing currency value) with 'spiral' (an accelerating, self-reinforcing process), so the overall meaning of a worsening cycle of falling prices and wages is directly inferable from the parts. This noun-compound pattern (X spiral) is common in English and other languages, so a learner who knows the constituent meanings can readily understand it.
Etymology
Deflationary spiral paints a clear picture: deflationary means 'prices falling' and spiral is a shape that keeps turning down. When prices drop, people wait to buy so demand falls and prices drop again, and the spiral keeps going down, so the phrase means continuing price falls and an economy that gets worse.