A pair of South Dakota economists discuss the effects inflation has had on the state. Particularly, its impact on housing.
A topic on many South Dakotan’s minds is the increase in cost for everyday living, also known as inflation.
The Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary Club recognized this issue and invited professionals within the field Monday to explain what inflation is and how its effects can change the future.
Reynold Nesiba is a Professor of Economics at Augustana University and a South Dakota State Senator. He said one of the areas most impacted by inflation is housing.
“For some of us, we win from that. If you’re lucky enough to own your house here in Sioux Falls for the last few years, its going up by tens-of-thousands of dollars, your balance sheet is improving. But if you're somebody who is living downtown and your rent went up, you found out, not everybody gets to live in the steel district or downtown anymore, you have to go find cheaper rent somewhere else,” said Nesiba.
Joe Santos is the director of the Ness School of Management and Economics at South Dakota State University. He spoke to general inflation in South Dakota.
“Even though everything is going up by five percent eventually, maybe the price of housing is going up more quickly than the price of provisions, right? Well, that means that a macro monetary phenomenon, like the fall in the purchasing power of money, is actually having effects at the microeconomic level. Firms are making decisions, what to use as an input in their production process based on, the relative price of those inputs,” said Santos.
Santos said inflation in hosing specifically has proven to be an issue that is long-standing and will take time to combat, even here in South Dakota.
