Draw the graph · Macro · Phillips curve

A demand boom hits

Unemployment rateInflation rate0SRPCLRPCA₀
SRPCshort-run Phillips curve
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LRPClong-run Phillips curve
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Drag a curve sideways, or use its arrows. A curve you do not move is a curve you are saying stays put.

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Short-run Phillips curve stays put. Long-run Phillips curve stays put.

A change in aggregate demand moves the economy along the short-run Phillips curve. Unemployment falls below the natural rate and inflation rises, but the curve itself is unchanged because expected inflation is unchanged. Neither the short-run nor the long-run Phillips curve shifts.

Unemployment falls and inflation rises along the unchanged short-run Phillips curve.

Common mistake. Students often shift the SRPC right to 'show more inflation.' A demand boom is a movement along the SRPC, up and to the left. Only changes in expected inflation or supply shocks shift it.

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Lesson: The Phillips Curve

Every prompt here is one shift. The course chains them: a lesson on why the curve moves, a graded drawing, and spaced review that brings back the shifts you get wrong.