There has been a curious and, from the point of view of the affected countries, an unfortunate uniformity in the economic performance of the major industrial countries of the world over the past few years. These countries have experienced the coincidence of simultaneously accelerating prices and rising unemployment. Starting in late 1970 or early 1971, many of the major industrial countries of the world experienced a uniform slowdown in output, with its adverse effects on the level of unemployment. At the same time, inflation in these countries had generally accelerated. The word “stagflation” has been coined to describe this state of affairs. Fortunately, most of these countries have experienced a recovery in real output growth in the first half of 1972.