The search for the word “inflation” on the internet grew by more than 50% in the second half of 2021. The term also started to be more published by the media, and even more used by politicians in the Chamber of Deputies.
Search on the Google platform rose by almost 51%. In the media, mentions rose 52.2%, while in the Chamber of Deputies —that is, speeches and documents— they rose 35.5%.
Rafael Foscarini, strategy director at Belo Investment Research, the company responsible for the research, says that an explanation for the minor mention in the Chamber of Deputies, despite being a subject that has been worrying the entire country, could be because it is an unpopular subject.
“It is only possible to deal with the matter in a negative way. There is no other option in the scenario in which Brazil finds itself”, comments Foscarini.
Foscarini believes that the search for the term will decrease over time, but that it will probably follow the pace of price reduction — which should take time.
Scenario
The research was done using Artificial Intelligence. The company’s AI picks up the word even if there are accent or grammar errors.
“This is a way of achieving the highest number of mentions and searches, and making a more complete reading of people’s behavior”, says Thaís Herédia, economics analyst at CNN
“This search reveals that all generations, even those who lived through the period of inflation, went after this information. Both to find out if it’s similar to what we’ve already lived through, and for those who haven’t lived to understand what it is,” he explains.
Priscila Yazbek, economics analyst at CNN, adds: “Inflation reached 10.74% in 12 months, according to the latest IBGE data — the highest inflation since 2003. That’s why this subject is so in vogue, and why people are worrying so much . This should also resonate in politics, because this year we have elections.”
Yazbek brings a December Genial Quest poll that indicated the economy is the country’s main problem according to 41% of respondents. Health and pandemic accounted for 19% of responses. The biggest problems for them are: unemployment, economic growth and inflation.
In July 2021, this percentage was different: 41% for health and pandemic, and 28% for economy.
From now on
According to specialists, the scenario that is to be drawn from now on is tumultuous.
“This inflation should close the year a little below the 10.74% of November, in other words, a two-digit inflation”, says Priscila.
“The encouragement we have, according to economist Andre Braz, from FGV (Getulio Vargas Foundation), is that food can bring some relief. We will have good harvests at the beginning of the year, and this should help, mainly, the low-income inflation, which is very much based on these prices.”
Braz recalls that many economists interpret inflation as if it were “a tax” on the low-income population, as it makes this group buy much less with the same amount of money.
As a large part of the population is working in a situation of informality — the rate in the Brazilian market is currently 40% — this population does not receive an increase or readjustment in line with inflation. For this reason, they end up suffering a lot from this price increase.
“This theme should be one of the great highlights for the year 2022”, says Braz.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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