Ramesh has already mentioned that former VP Mike Pence has released a plan to fight inflation by lowering costs and reducing spending. I have issues with some of Pence’s ideas, but at the very least he has a plan, one that even features genuine policy ideas.

More importantly, the former VP has a good instinct, which is that the Fed can’t fight inflation alone. Yes, the Fed’s raising interest rates is an important step. But reducing government spending is also key, as his plan notes (three cheers to that part of the plan). And so is freeing the supply side in order to reduce the costs through supply abundance and economic growth.

Unlike Mr. Pence, I don’t believe that, even if it were possible, bringing manufacturing and supply chains “home” would reduce costs. Quite the opposite. The policies to achieve these outcomes would distort resource allocation and thus lower growth and jack up costs.

Nor would such policies increase resiliency. As I wrote a few weeks back, “Resiliency, as economists think about it, rests on a diversification of supply chains and on not having single points of failure. This means having suppliers in multiple places, both abroad — not just in one foreign country, such as China — and domestically.” Bringing more production back here would create more of a single point of failure. That’s not resiliency.

In fact, I would trust companies operating abroad to know better than politicians when it is time to exit China (many now are) or even how best to prepare for the economic consequences of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. (Even Taiwan is moving some of its semiconductor production away to prepare for that eventuality.)

But again, in spite of our disagreements, I am very grateful that Mr. Pence is bringing up the untaken paths to fighting inflation. And as he mentions, reducing costs is one important way to offset inflation. That doesn’t happen with more government requirements to “buy American,” to offer workers child care, or to employ a larger number of unionized workers. And it certainly doesn’t happen when the government consumes, through its high spending, gargantuan amounts of resources.

Energy abundance is a concept I prefer over energy independence, but no matter what you call it, the former VP is correct that it is key. I have a few more ideas on this front: Lifting trade barriers imposed by the Trump-Biden duo would go a long way to fight inflation. Further, freeing the housing supply would have a profoundly beneficial effect on Americans’ cost of living. Immigration reform is another important step; a larger labor supply means more output and lower prices. End the Jones Act. Free the supply of health care by, among other things, getting rid of scope-of-practice rules that protect doctors from the competition of nurse practitioners. And also allow doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners to serve patients all over the country and compete for business through telemedicine. Reasonably relax safety rules for all sorts of things from pharmaceutical drugs, construction work, and more. We all want to be safe, of course, but being too risk-averse kills innovation and restrains growth — and keeps prices higher than otherwise.