A 48-member panel of business economists has sharply raised its expectations for inflation compared to its September forecast, with two-thirds predicting that wage increases will keep inflation higher over the next three years. A survey released on Dec. 6 by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) shows that its panel of forecasters expects consumer prices to rise 6 percent in the final quarter of the year compared to the year-ago quarter, marking a sharp upward revision to the 5.1 percent rate of inflation the panel predicted in September for the same period. Julie Coronado, vice president of NABE, said that 71 percent of the forecasters expect the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the so-called core PCE price index, to remain above the central bank’s 2 percent target until at least the second half of 2023. “NABE Outlook survey panelists have ramped up their expectations for inflation significantly since September,” Coronado …