We Need to Talk about Inflation

We Need to Talk about Inflation

Author: Stephen D. King

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2023-01-01

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 030027047X

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A FINANCIAL TIMES "BOOK TO READ IN 2023" "Everything you wanted to know about inflation but were afraid to ask."--Mervyn King "King's lessons command our attention."--Lawrence H. Summers "Maybe you don't think inflation is back for good. That is your right. But you'd be advised to read this book first."--Stephanie Flanders From investors and monetary authorities to governments and policy makers, almost everyone had assumed inflation was dead and buried. But now people the world over are confronting a poisonous new economic reality and, with it, the prospect of vast and increasing wealth inequality. How have we arrived in this situation? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Celebrated economist Stephen D. King--one of the few to warn ahead of time about the latest inflationary upheaval--identifies key lessons from the history of inflation that policy makers chose not to heed. From ancient Rome through the American Civil War and up to the asset bubbles of today, inflation stems from policy error, sovereign greed, and a collective loss of faith in currencies. We Need to Talk About Inflation cuts through centuries of bad judgment and misunderstanding, offering a means to intervene now--so we can begin to tackle the political and social upheaval unleashed by inflation.


Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls

Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls

Author: Robert L. Schuettinger.

Publisher: Ludwig von Mises Institute

Published: 1979

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 161016525X

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The Mises Institute is thrilled to bring back this popular guide to ridiculous economic policy from the ancient world to modern times. This outstanding history illustrates the utter futility of fighting the market process through legislation. It always uses despotic measures to yield socially catastrophic results. It covers the ancient world, the Roman Republic and Empire, Medieval Europe, the first centuries of the U.S. and Canada, the French Revolution, the 19th century, World Wars I and II, the Nazis, the Soviets, postwar rent control, and the 1970s. It also includes a very helpful conclusion spelling out the theory of wage and price controls. This book is a treasure, and super entertaining!


When the Money Runs Out

When the Money Runs Out

Author: Stephen D. King

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2018-04-24

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0300240082

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An eminent economist warns that Western nations’ economic expectations for the future are way out of sync with the realities of economic stagnation and stringent steps will be required to avoid massive political and economic upheaval. “It is alarmingly difficult to disagree with Stephen King. All one can say, perhaps, is that one of the great errors of human nature—strongly displayed before the credit crunch—is the belief that a prevailing trend will continue indefinitely. The crunch is surely a reminder that what goes up must come down.”—Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph “[King] is dabbling in the financial equivalent of the horror genre. Perhaps even scarier, his is the stuff of nonfiction.”—Michael J. Casey, Wall Street Journal


The Truth About Inflation

The Truth About Inflation

Author: Paul Donovan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-27

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1317690044

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Inflation is a simple topic, in that the basic concepts are something that everyone can understand. However, inflation is not a simplistic topic. The composition of inflation and what the different inflation measures try to represent cannot be summarised with a single line on a chart or a casual reference to a solitary data point. Investors very often fail to understand the detail behind inflation, and end up making bad investment decisions as a result. The Truth About Inflation does not set out to forecast inflation, but to help improve its understanding, so that investors can make better decisions to achieve the real returns that they need. Starting with a summary of long history of inflation, the drivers of price change are considered. Many of the "urban myths" that have built up about inflation are shown to be a consequence of irrational judgement or political scaremongering. Some behaviour, like the unhealthy veneration of gold as a means of inflation protection, is shown to be the result of historical accident. In the modern era of lower nominal investment returns, inflation inequality (whereby some groups experience persistently higher inflation than others) is a very important consideration. This book sets out the realities of price changes in the modern investing environment, without using economic equations or jargon. It gives investors the framework they need to think about inflation and how to protect themselves against it, whether the aggregate inflation of the future rises or falls from current levels.


Inflation Expectations

Inflation Expectations

Author: Peter J. N. Sinclair

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-12-16

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 1135179778

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Inflation is regarded by the many as a menace that damages business and can only make life worse for households. Keeping it low depends critically on ensuring that firms and workers expect it to be low. So expectations of inflation are a key influence on national economic welfare. This collection pulls together a galaxy of world experts (including Roy Batchelor, Richard Curtin and Staffan Linden) on inflation expectations to debate different aspects of the issues involved. The main focus of the volume is on likely inflation developments. A number of factors have led practitioners and academic observers of monetary policy to place increasing emphasis recently on inflation expectations. One is the spread of inflation targeting, invented in New Zealand over 15 years ago, but now encompassing many important economies including Brazil, Canada, Israel and Great Britain. Even more significantly, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the United States Federal Bank are the leading members of another group of monetary institutions all considering or implementing moves in the same direction. A second is the large reduction in actual inflation that has been observed in most countries over the past decade or so. These considerations underscore the critical – and largely underrecognized - importance of inflation expectations. They emphasize the importance of the issues, and the great need for a volume that offers a clear, systematic treatment of them. This book, under the steely editorship of Peter Sinclair, should prove very important for policy makers and monetary economists alike.


Reducing Inflation

Reducing Inflation

Author: Christina D. Romer

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0226724832

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While there is ample evidence that high inflation is harmful, little is known about how best to reduce inflation or how far it should be reduced. In this volume, sixteen distinguished economists analyze the appropriateness of low inflation as a goal for monetary policy and discuss possible strategies for reducing inflation. Section I discusses the consequences of inflation. These papers analyze inflation's impact on the tax system, labor market flexibility, equilibrium unemployment, and the public's sense of well-being. Section II considers the obstacles facing central bankers in achieving low inflation. These papers study the precision of estimates of equilibrium unemployment, the sources of the high inflation of the 1970s, and the use of non-traditional indicators in policy formation. The papers in section III consider how institutions can be designed to promote successful monetary policy, and the importance of institutions to the performance of policy in the United States, Germany, and other countries. This timely volume should be read by anyone who studies or conducts monetary policy.


The Cost Disease

The Cost Disease

Author: William J. Baumol

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2012-09-25

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0300179286

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Traces the fast-rising prices of health care and education in the United States and other major industrial nations, examining the underlying causes which have to do with the nature of providing labor-intensive services.


Not Your Parents' Money Book

Not Your Parents' Money Book

Author: Jean Chatzky

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-08-10

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1416994734

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For the first time, financial guru and TODAY Show regular Jean Chatzky brings her expertise to a young audience. Chatzky provides her unique, savvy perspective on money with advice and insight on managing finances, even on a small scale. This book will reach kids before bad spending habits can get out of control. With answers and ideas from real kids, this grounded approach to spending and saving will be a welcome change for kids who are inundated by a consumer driven culture. This book talks about money through the ages, how money is actually made and spent, and the best ways for tweens to earn and save money.


Inflation Matters

Inflation Matters

Author: Pete Comley

Publisher: Pete Comley

Published: 2015-01-30

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0957303831

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Inflation Matters is the first truly comprehensive book about inflation written in a simple and easy-to-read style. The book covers everything from the basics of how inflation is defined and measured through to the impact of inflation and its winners and losers. It highlights the difficulty in calculating inflation and that conventional measures (such as CPI in the UK) often underestimate it for a number of reasons. It also examines deflation and why it is regarded as a problem by economists. The book examines the history of world inflation. It looks at the causes of inflation and shows that they are many and complex. The book reveals a new model of inflation – Inflationary Wave Theory. It proposes that long-term inflation is created by population growth and competition for resources. Price increases depict a wave-like pattern over the centuries due to effects of man exploiting the inflation trend to such a point that prices eventually consolidate over a long period. The world is about to enter this stage of near-zero inflation. The book examines how this transition might take place and the conditions that need to be fulfilled. It is likely to be accompanied by some form of deflationary shock. Investing over the coming decades will therefore be difficult and the book discusses the implications of it for future wealth management. Book contents: PART I: INFLATION FACT AND FICTION 1 What is inflation? 2 Inflation and the money supply theory 3 Other theories about inflation 4 Deflation and why it is regarded as a problem 5 UK inflation measures 6 Inflation measurement issues PART II: INFLATION PAST 7 Inflationary Wave Theory 8 World War I and learning about hyperinflation 9 The 1930s depression and the deflation bogeyman 10 World War II, debts and the low inflation world 11 The 1970s inflation crisis and fiat currencies PART III: INFLATION PRESENT 12 The Great Moderation and the Great Recession 13 Japan and deflation 14 Governments and inflation 15 The era of inflation targeting 16 The impact of current inflation PART IV: DEFLATION YET TO COME 17 The big picture: a century of more stable prices 18 The transition period and near-term inflation 19 Price stability and the consolidation period 20 Managing wealth as we head towards near-zero inflation More information can be found at: inflationmatters.com.