Bey-flation

Sweden’s annual core inflation rate fell just 0.2% last month, a notably smaller drop than analysts expected. Experts now have one irreplaceable theory for why this happened.

Driving the news: Some Swedish central bankers are blaming Beyoncé (yes that Beyoncé) for the country’s stubbornly high inflation last month, arguing that her two performances in Stockholm—which kicked off her Renaissance World Tour—contributed to increased spending. 

• With 46,000 stans swarming the city per night, hotel prices surged while restaurants were flooded. Collectively, these two sectors added 0.3% to May’s core inflation. 

A chief economist at Danske Bank estimates Queen Bey drove 0.2% of the 8.2% core inflation rate all by herself, though her economic impact has yet to show up in other countries she’s performed in. 

Why it matters: Stadium-filling concerts have become massive economic drivers for cities, drawing throngs of travellers spending thousands of dollars a piece to see their fave acts.   

• Per Forbes, if a Beyoncé concert-goer bought a ticket and one piece of merch it would cost them ~US$800. And that’s without accounting for travel, food, and accommodations.
   
• It’s common for major sporting tournaments to have the power to skew economic statistics, but it’s been practically unheard of for single events to do so. 

In Canada: Beyoncé comes to Toronto in July and Vancouver in September, so our advice for Tiff Macklem is to account for that when reviewing those months’ inflation numbers.

Also, if any of you know where we can score a ticket under $700, drop us a line.—QH