Say What Now? Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour Made Impact on Inflation in Sweden, Economist Says

Beyoncé has won a record number of Grammys, has become one of the best-selling musical artists in the world and is on a sold-out, record-breaking world tour.

via: Complex

Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour was always going to be one of the biggest tours of the year, but having-an-impact-on-inflation big? That wasn’t exactly in the cards for even the more hyperbolic predictions.

As noted in a recent New York Times piece citing Danske Bank chief economist Michael Grahn, the two-show kickoff of the tour in Stockholm in May “seems to have” had an impact on inflation in Sweden for the month. Per Statistics Sweden, the inflation rate for May was 9.7 percent according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). While this was lower than April’s 10.5, it still marked a higher-than-expected rate.

Notably, there are several factors at play here. Chief among them is the uptick in hotel and restaurant prices for the month, both of which could reasonably be linked, although it’s not clear to what degree, to Beyoncé’s pair of tour-opening shows at Friends Arena in Stockholm. The shows were massive, of course, and also drew in out-of-town fans.

In fact, Grahn told the Times’ Eshe Nelson that traveling fans were the “main impact on inflation” in this scenario. Read the full piece here.

The Renaissance World Tour, which marks Beyoncé’s first solo outing in seven years, continues this month with stops in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Warsaw. Next month, the North American leg of the tour begins with a pair of shows at the Rogers Centre in Toronto before the experience is taken to Philadelphia, Nashville, and beyond.

Earlier this week, the tour made headlines thanks to a fortunate fan who caught the singer’s sunglasses during a show in London. The glasses were promptly listed on an auction site with a starting price of more than $7,000.

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