Stagflation is the persistence of negative GDP growth – or rising unemployment – and high inflation, which we can define as inflation above 2%. So, to identify previous stagflation periods, we can plot GDP growth and core inflation on a graph. We do this below for 1960-2022 (Chart 1). Stagflationary periods appear on the upper-left-hand side and are generally a 1970-85 occurrence (in orange).