Since there was no major inflation, on the contrary, in certain countries we saw limited cases of deflation, there was no clear loss of purchasing power in front of goods. Some went up until 2008-2009, like oil and other commodities, but many returned to their usual prices.
yes, some currencies ended up at higher value (the CNY, the real, AUD, etc.), but on the major ones there wasn't big changes.
There has been no major inflation as yet, that is correct. Although, it usually lags and sneaks up on you.
CNY and AUD both rose as they didn't play ball with devaluing. Australia due to mining exports and lowering from a substantially higher base. Both countries have ridden out the crisis on the back of China. Australian retail is awful as is manufacturing, it is mining keeping it together but even that is slowing now. Both countries have also seen a massive increase in RE prices.
The Reais on the other hand had a period of devaluation when Brazil imposed tariffs, briefly, in 2010 or 2011. Inflation rose and they soon fell in line with the rest of the world. Montego, I believe, announced a currency war on the back of this.
In the major economies if you look at stock prices, they have mostly doubled from lows. RE is also heading back up. That is inflation of assets as a result of speculation encouraged by negative interest rate returns.
Another point is that it has been mentioned that inflation in food prices was a factor in the Arab Spring. In Tunisia, it was a protest against this that kicked the whole thing off...
But the reasons there has been no inflation, briefly, to my understanding, are such
- deflation and inflation are battling it out. Increased QE is designed in part to keep the deflation at bay. The deflation wants to happen (market forces) as the system is riddled with bucketloads of toxic debt. If QE stops, what happens?
- there has been inflation countries that buck the devaluating trend, see Brazil in 2011 when they imposed tariffs and announced a currency war was in progress.
- no recognised inflation in US as the US exports its inflation to emerging markets. The inflation in the US occurs when US dollars return home. One example being if CHina begins buying up large parts of US land/infrastructure etc. Other eg's are a loss of confidence in the USD or someone dumping USD.
I'd like to reiterate that I havent studied economics. This is simply my understanding from my reading habits.