Survey: Economists don't fear inflation

NEW YORK, March 11 (UPI) -- A Wall Street Journal poll of economists suggests the U.S. Fed's failure to lift long-term interest rates reflects expectations inflation is no problem.

Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the U.S. central bank, has labeled as a "conundrum" the refusal of long-term interest rates to rise despite recent Fed increases in short-term rates, the newspaper said Friday.

But 56 private economists surveyed March 4-7 indicated the reason is expectations for low inflation.

"Markets believe the Fed won't let core inflation move up," said David Berson, chief economist at Fannie Mae, "and core inflation is in a range that is roughly where the Fed wants it to be."

That view was recently reinforced by Michael Moskow, president of the Chicago Fed and a voting member of the central bank's policy setting committee, who said this week: "We have seen little evidence that long-run inflationary expectations have risen ... Long-term inflation-protected Treasury securities imply well-contained expectations."