This book challenges the conventional view that monetarism is a necessary part of classical economics and shows, in an historical account of monetary controversy, that the framework upon which classical analysis is based suggests an alternative account of the inflationary process. A corollary of the argument is that the monetarist approach is a logically necessary component of neoclassical analysis and that any attempt to criticise that approach in a fundamental way must involve an explicit rejection of the conceptual structure of neoclassical economics.
Martin Bronfenbrenner in the Journal of Finance had this to say when the book was first released "A thoughtful, scholarly, and systematic treatise on the economics of inflation. If this reviewer were asked to hang a course on inflation theory upon one single text, it would almost certainly be this one." The principal concern of this book is to set out the elements that enter into problems of analyzing inflation. This detailed, readable review of contemporary theory on the problems of inflation fills an important gap in the literature on macro-economics that: 1) assesses the implications of inflationary processes for economic policy; 2) synthesizes a general framework within which to illustrate inflationary processes; 3) reconciles the approaches of "demand inflation" and "cost inflation"; and 4) analyzes the determination and behavior of the general price level in an exchange economy. The first part of the book reviews neo-classical and "Keynesian" type models of the closed macro-economy, analyzes determination of the general price level, and introduces a restatement of conventional employment theory with emphasis on the general price level. The second part considers the problems of price and wage determinations and the demand for money in more detail, synthesizing the analyses into a model of the macro-economy and discussing the implications of this model and the preceding analysis for economic policy. Describing alternative approaches to the theory of inflation, each of which has resulted in partial theories, the book avoids fragmentary explanations by setting the entire discussion in the context of a macro-economic general equilibrium framework.
Martin Bronfenbrenner in the Journal of Finance had this to say when the book was first released: "A thoughtful, scholarly, and systematic treatise on the economics of inflation. If this reviewer were asked to hang a course on inflation theory upon one single text, it would almost certainly be this one." The principal concern of this book is to set out the elements that enter into problems of analyzing inflation. This detailed, readable review of contemporary theory on the problems of inflation fills an important gap in the literature on macro-economics that: 1) assesses the implications of inflationary processes for economic policy; 2) synthesizes a general framework within which to illustrate inflationary processes; 3) reconciles the approaches of "demand inflation" and "cost inflation"; and 4) analyzes the determination and behavior of the general price level in an exchange economy.
Since I wrote my small volume on A General Theory of the Price Level, etc., I have often been asked for a fuller statement of my views, or my attitude on various matters treated only briefly at that time....I hope that the collection of essays that are contained herein fill in many of these gaps and answer the major part of the queries that admit of such elaboration.” In my opinion there are two contending theories of the price level: that deriving from the Equation of Exchange in one or another of its forms, and that based on cost, especially wage, phenomena. Thus the debate must be resolved primarily between two major sets of ideas on the subject of inflation. In this light it would be a welcome event, if those Keynesians in economics, who long ago abandoned the various versions of the Quantity Theory of Money and have little truck with the cost theory of the price level, would at least re-examine their views on this subject. It is my deep conviction that most of the literature oriented toward what has been regarded as Keynesian thinking has had very little to contribute toward understanding price level phenomena despite superficial appearances toward the contrary. The importance of this assertion cannot be overstated for, in bulk, this literature is already voluminous and in teaching importance it represents the dominant modern fashion. Yet, in my opinion, on the fundamental problems of price level inflation and deflation, I believe it to be wholly barren and devoid of substance. Perhaps these essays will reveal the stark nakedness of the concepts in the price dimensions that interest all of us.—Sidney Weintraub
John Maynard Keynes failed to correctly interpret classic economic concepts, and dismissed the classical explanations and conclusions as being irrelevant to the world in which we live. The trauma of the Great Depression and Keynes's changed definition of economic concepts, aided by Eugen Bhm-Bawerk, have made it difficult for modern economists to
Rossi (economics, Universities of Fribourg and Lugano) presents a new theory connecting money and output. Analyzing inflation from a macroeconomics perspective, the role of money is described in terms of value, price, profit, and capital accumulation. Rossi argues that an understanding of inflation must be grounded on a view of the formation (and not the distribution) of national income. He then proposes structural reforms of modern banking systems and outlines an original macro-theoretical investigation of measurement problems in price index theory. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This book was originally published by Macmillan in 1936. It was voted the top Academic Book that Shaped Modern Britain by Academic Book Week (UK) in 2017, and in 2011 was placed on Time Magazine's top 100 non-fiction books written in English since 1923. Reissued with a fresh Introduction by the Nobel-prize winner Paul Krugman and a new Afterword by Keynes’ biographer Robert Skidelsky, this important work is made available to a new generation. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money transformed economics and changed the face of modern macroeconomics. Keynes’ argument is based on the idea that the level of employment is not determined by the price of labour, but by the spending of money. It gave way to an entirely new approach where employment, inflation and the market economy are concerned. Highly provocative at its time of publication, this book and Keynes’ theories continue to remain the subject of much support and praise, criticism and debate. Economists at any stage in their career will enjoy revisiting this treatise and observing the relevance of Keynes’ work in today’s contemporary climate.
Monograph on approaches to the problems of inflation in developed countries - discusses inflation phenomena, economic theories concerning its causes and effects and economic policy measures to control it. Bibliography pp. 129 to 130, graphs and references.
On the basis of theoretical considerations and on the evidence of real-world economies, Frank Hahn demonstrates in unequivocal terms that Monetarism offers an implausible solution to the most pervasive economic problems. He confronts the central issue of current economic theory by making the case that the growth of the money supply is not a necessary cause of inflation, as the Monetarists have assumed. And he contends that inflation is in any case not the overwhelming satanic force disrupting society and the economy that the strict Monetarists think it to be on theoretical grounds and so many others feel it to be in terms of practical economic realities. It is the tax systems, he points out, that are the real influence at work against the economies of the industrialized nations. Frank Hahn, one of Britain's most eminent economists, is Professor of Economics at Cambridge University and author of Equilibrium and Macroeconomics (MIT Press 1985).
