It must be appreciated that inflation in land and house prices tends to distort the profit earned on land and the development process.

Based on recent years, inflation has tended to rise sharply in the first four months and taper off in the remaining eight.

Higher inflation will also tend, other economists said, to keep the dollar at low enough levels to sustain the current export boom.

Even absent inflation, the real estate occupied by some luxury hotels tends to increase in value because it is rare: Such prime, big-city properties seldom become available.

As productivity drops, inflation tends to rise, putting pressure on the Fed to continue raising rates.

In general, inflation at these earlier stages of production tends to foreshadow inflation at the level of finished goods and consumer purchases.

Second, inflation, once started, tended to accelerate out of control.

In the past, inflation tended to accelerate when the jobless rate fell to less than 6 percent.

For one, inflation tends to transfer income from bond holders (rentiers) to wage earners.

At worst, inflation tends to grow exponentially (leading to hyperinflation).