This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Question of the Week

Pick your poison: high inflation or a recession. Which would you prefer and why?

Send responses to conor@theatlantic.com or reply to this email.

Conversations of Note

What if the Fed raised interest rates by 2 percentage points immediately? That’s what Noah Smith proposes to fight inflation, the force that’s been ravaging wallets and bank accounts coast to coast. Smith’s critics say a rate hike that sharp, done all at once, would put millions out of work.

Smith’s reply:

The fear of an economic downturn is certainly legitimate. The Great Depression was the greatest economic calamity in our history so far, and the Great Recession that began in 2008 was enormously damaging as well. The Volcker recessions of the early 1980s that ended the 70s inflation … probably left permanent scars on the Rust Belt. The harms of unemployment are concentrated on society’s most vulnerable. But at the same time, recession isn’t the only economic danger to worry about. Moderate inflation