Inflation is fundamentally the outcome of the distributional conflict between firms, workers and taxpayers. It stops only when the various players are forced to accept the outcome. For a straightforward rendering in game theory, Krugman also quoted William Nordhaus, another giant of the economics profession. In the 1970s, he compared inflation to what happens in a football stadium when the action on the field was especially exciting: “Everyone stands up to get a better view, but this is collectively self-defeating.”