The new inflation /
[by] Willard L. Thorp [and] Richard E. Quandt.
- New York : McGraw-Hill, 1959.
- xi, 233 pages : includes tables ; 21 cm.
Includes index.
Chapter 1. A look at the record -- Chapter 2. Money supply and the urge to spend -- Chapter 3. Income claims and structural pressures -- Chapter 4. Checks and balances -- Chapter 5. Growth, productivity, and inflation -- Chapter 6. The international aspects of inflation -- Chapter 7. Monetary policy -- Chapter 8. Fiscal and other policies --Chapter 9. The policy choices -- Chapter 10. The outlook
"The authors examine the demand-pull and the cost-push territories of inflation, and conclude that there are certain instances in which each of these seems to dominate the situation. Their consensus is that in wars and in other emergencies, demand will exceed supply, and cost factors become secondary to demand factors. On the other hand, they were disturbed about the fact that in the mild business recessions since the end of World War II, there have been too few tendencies for prices to fall and wages to stabilize, They recognize that heavy unemployment has some effect on wage increases, but they question whether our present social and political thinking would permit the development of as much unemployment as would be needed to hold wages down. In fact, one of their conclusions is that maintenance of a relatively high level of employment has become a major objective of our society; therefor, prices in general will usually rise, will seldom fall, and will produce a creeping inflation. However, the group does not believe that creeping inflation will necessarily lead to galloping inflation. A survey of the circumstances, nationally and internationally, in which galloping inflations have occurred, shows that these have been the results of wars and emergencies which would not normally afflict a healthy economy like that in the United States. When it comes to policies designed to deal with the problem of inflation, the authors believe that there is no simple solution, Monetary and fiscal polices can be fairly effective in combating demand-pull inflation, but are not adequate in dealing with inflations from other causes, since these policies would then result in an unacceptable level of unemployment." -- From Monthly Labor Review.