It’s this type of inflation expectations—the medium-to-long term—that the Federal Reserve has its eye on. Historically, they have been more likely to have an effect on inflation. 

“It could be that people still think that this is just still relatively transitory,” said Carola Binder, an economics professor at Haverford College who studies inflation expectations. “They might still be pretty confident that the Fed will get inflation back to its target or just think that things will get back to normal eventually.”

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