The combination of recession and high inflation -- close to 20 per cent just before the advent of Paul Volcker at the helm of the Federal Reserve -- confounded not a few macroeconomists; they had a hard time in accepting that massive under utilisation of resources can cohabit with a much quicker pace of inflation.
Kombinacija recesije i visoke inflacije - gotovo 20 posto neposredno prije dolaska Paula Volckera za kormilo Saveznih rezervi - zbunjivala je brojne makroekonomiste; bilo im je prilično teško prihvatiti da izražena neiskorištenost resursa može kohabitirati s bitno povećanom stopom inflacije.