“On March 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve raised its target interest rate by a quarter point, the first of many increases the U.S. central bank is expected to make over the coming months,” Jeffery S. Bredthauer writes. “The aim is to tamp down inflation that has been running at a year-over-year pace of 7.9%. The challenge is to do this without sending the economy into recession. Some economists and observers are already raising the specter of stagflation, which means high inflation coupled with a stagnating economy.”