What Is Stagflation? What to Know About the World Bank’s Global Economic Outlook

Stagflation—a toxic cocktail of stagnating growth and rising prices—is generally viewed as a relic of the 1970s. But economists are warning it could make a comeback.

What is stagflation?

The term is broadly defined as sluggish growth tied with rising inflation. Economists haven’t given it much thought since the 1970s, when US consumers lined up to fill their cars with high-price gasoline and the jobless rate hit 9%.