Monetary Regimes and Inflation: History, Economic and Political Relationships [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Peter Bernholz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1843761556 | ISBN-13: 978-1843761556 | Publication Date: March 2003 | Edition: illustrated edition

This text explores the characteristics of inflations, comparing historical cases from Roman times up to the modern day. High and moderate inflations caused by the inflationary bias of political systems and economic relationships - and the way different monetary regimes contain them - are analysed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Peter Bernholz's book brings together his comprehensive studies of inflation from the fourth century to the present, showing their common elements and their differences. This is an impressive work that bankers, central bankers, economists and laymen can read with pleasure and profit. I recommend it highly.' - Allan H. Meltzer, Carnegie Mellon University and American Enterprise Institute, US 'This book is about explaining inflation. It is written by one of the world's leading political economists. His comparison of 29 hyperinflations demonstrates the crucial role of political institutions and monetary regimes. The author's grasp of economic and political history is truly exceptional. The book fills a gap. It is the fruit of a lifelong occupation with the problem of inflation.' - Roland Vaubel, University of Mannheim, Germany" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Peter Bernholz, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Center for Economics and Business (WWZ), University of Basle, Switzerland

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub; illustrated edition edition (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843761556
• ISBN-13: 978-1843761556
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,180,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Historical lesson., January 30, 2010

By 

Robert Blakey (Merriam, KS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Monetary Regimes and Inflation: History, Economic and Political Relationships (Paperback)

The author breaks the book into historical examples. From these examples he draws conclusions which are written out at the end of each subchapter. He looks back at these conclusions and sees if they hold up under other circumstances in future chapters.

Historical data include a prce index of rice in Ming China, Inflation in revolutionary America, and Florian exchange rates in medieval Italy.

He is apolitical, and from Switzerland. So, to an American, it does not matter what political party you are.

If you are interested in how politics and monetary policy interact with each other to cause inflation and boom/busts, this book is for you. It has definite lessons that we shed light on today's economy. Particularly, the "caps" and "hats" political parties in Sweden, and their inflation plight.

This is a book I will 100% read multiple times. I can only say that about 3 other books. I reccomend this book with no reservations.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Book Review by the Aleph Blog, February 12, 2011

By 

David Merkel "Aleph Blog" (Ellicott City, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monetary Regimes and Inflation: History, Economic and Political Relationships (Paperback)

I did not ask for this book, but I am glad the publisher sent it to me for free. There is a lot of concern over inflation in the present era, but not a lot of structured thought about what drives inflation.

This book takes the long term perspective, and looks at the wide array of monetary arrangements, and analyzes which arrangements produced more or less price inflation. The author shows that there is generally an inflationary bias in all currencies. Currencies that are backed by precious metals tend to experience less inflation, but many governments using such currencies debase the metals or clip the coins. That said, it does restrain inflation, because inflating a metallic-based currency takes a lot of work.

To have significant inflation, one must have unbacked paper money. The same is true of defaults in bonds. In order to have a crisis, much debt must be issued relative to the assets and earning power of the companies. The debt is not backed by sufficient repayment capacity, and thus there are some defaults.

A fiat currency in and of itself, is not sufficient to create hyperinflation. Hyperinflation only happens when the government finances itself by printing money with abandon.

The book further distinguishes itself by explaining situations where foreign currencies come in to act as shadow currencies inside nations. Further, the book describes how inflationary situations end. One constant is that people quickly analyze where purchasing is declining, and seek stability through metals or relatively stable fiat currencies.

One strength of the book is that at the end of each chapter, the author summarizes all of the main points. I recommend this book.

Quibbles

The book is not dry, but it has a distinctly academic feel. Not everyone will take to the book easily.

Who would benefit from this book?

Economists would benefit from the book, and also those that like reading about the history of inflation. Few things truly change in History; the names may change, but we make the same mistakes.