How Harry Styles Hikes Inflation

Because Harry Styles decided to boost the number of concerts at a smaller number of cities, his fans have been flocking to Amsterdam and London for his Together Together tour. So, if you are not a local, you have to stay in a hotel.

And that is the problem.

Netherlands Inflation

Styles’s 10-day stay in Amsterdam created a sustained increase in room rates. At 21%, those elevated rates helped to nudge Netherlands inflation to 3.5%. ECB head Christine Lagarde even named “concert-related hotel prices in the Netherlands” as one reason for European inflation and their 25-basis point (.25%) interest rate increase. The Dutch National Bank compared the phenomenon to Bruce Springsteen’s 2024 tour. Called “eye-watering” in one description, some Dublin hotels tripled their rates.

From their rooms to food to tickets and merchandise, blockbuster entertainment tours also have boosted the GDP. During Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, omelet demand in Miami jumped so high that it helped to increase egg prices. Correspondingly, when we’ve added up spending on travel, special outfits, food, and merchandise for the Taylor Swift Eras tour, some estimate the U.S. GDP got an extra whopping $10 billion. Similarly, Springsteen and Styles would have provided a GDP pop.

Our Bottom Line: Inflation

When economists explain inflation, they say the cause could be 1) “demand pull,” or 2) “cost push, or 3) a single commodity. On the demand side of markets, when too many of us have lots to spend, we bid prices higher. Somewhat similarly, cost push inflation takes us to more expensive land, labor, or capital. And, for that single commodity, the perfect example is how the Iran War pushed oil prices skyward. In addition, we should note that a group of economists called the monetarists attribute inflation primarily to an excessive money supply.

When Harry Styles causes today’s pop in hotel room rates, we could say it’s demand pull inflation. But then also, #3 is the cause because he, Bruce Springsteen, and Taylor Swift are the single “commodity” that stimulated the increase.

My sources and more: Thanks once again to a Slate Money numbers round for alerting me to an interesting statistic. From there, we learned more about the Styles impact (and others) on inflation here, here, and here.

Please note that several of today’s sentences were in a past econlife post. Our 2023 Harry Styles featured image is from Wikipedia.