Draw the graph · Macro · Phillips curve

Expected inflation rises

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. Make each shift clear enough that a reader could see it.

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

The short-run Phillips curve is drawn for a given expected inflation rate. When expected inflation rises, every unemployment rate now comes with higher actual inflation, so the SRPC shifts right, or equivalently up. The long-run Phillips curve does not move because the natural rate of unemployment is unchanged.

Inflation is higher at every unemployment rate, and the economy returns to the natural rate with higher inflation.

Common mistake. A common error is to move the economy along the SRPC, or to shift the LRPC. Expectations shift the short-run curve. The natural rate, and so the LRPC, is set by the labor market.

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Lesson: Expectations & the Long-Run 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.