When the US Federal Reserve embarked on an aggressive campaign to quash inflation last year, it did so with the goal of avoiding a painful repeat of the 1970s, when inflation spun out of control and economic malaise set in. Inflation has been sliding, indicating that after 10 consecutive interest rate hikes, the central bank is experiencing some success. But Gary Richardson, a Federal Reserve historian, is worried policymakers — now contemplating taking a breather — still risk repeating mistakes from that era. “The more times you pause [rate hikes], the longer the problem is going to go on,” he told me. “That’s a worry here.” ... “If they don’t stop inflation now, the historical analogy [indicates] it’s not going to stop, and it’s going to get worse,” said Richardson, an economics professor at University of California, Irvine.

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