> The reason is more forceful management of the economy – the Spanish government took quicker, more concerted action than ours did. Spain capped energy prices b

> The reason is more forceful management of the economy – the Spanish government took quicker, more concerted action than ours did. Spain capped energy prices by more than the UK, lowered the cost of public transport, taxed excess profits and put in place limits on how much landlords can raise rents. While also coming with costs, this kept inflation from spreading more widely and more persistently than elsewhere. Policies that limit the price increases for the necessities of life works! A good experimental case study in direct action (Spain: policies targeting problems of inflation) vs. indirect action (UK: central bank raising interest rates and hoping that downstream actors behave a certain way). In my mind, this is also a good data point against the entire idea of indirect policy as a whole -- like it's more well-known cousin, "trickle down economics," time and again we see that society gets better outcomes when governments address problems directly. We get worse outcomes when government makes policies that allow for uncoordinated actions that can take resources away from problem-solving.