Beyoncé Contributed To An Entire Nation's Inflation, Economist Says
Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour kickoff last month in Stockholm jolted Sweden’s economy and had a measurable impact on May’s inflation, according to an economist.
The BeyHive’s demand caused the superstar to add a second Stockholm performance and fueled massive spending for hotels and restaurants, according to Michael Grahn, chief economist at Danske Bank in Sweden. The country’s 9.7% May inflation, he said, was 0.2 percentage points higher than economists expected, propelled by what Grahn called a “Beyoncé blip.”
“Stars come here all the time, [but] we seldom see effects like this,” Grahn told CNN.
“Perhaps all that isn’t just down to her, as there are other events taking place, but when you think about what was the cause, she is the prime suspect,” Grahn added.
This “upside surprise” is likely to reverse as hotel and ticket prices go back to normal in June, Grahn wrote on Twitter.
Beyoncé performs during the opening night of her ongoing tour at Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden on May 10.
Some U.S. Beyoncé fans planned flights to Sweden to take advantage of cheaper tickets, BuzzFeed News reported in February. Floor tickets were priced at $95 for the Sweden stop, a massive discount compared to New York prices of $823 or more.
Ticketmaster noted earlier this year that demand for tickets outstripped the number of available seats in some U.S. cities by more than 800%.
