Price Slashed On New Inflation Book

November 20, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under Book Review, Economic issues 

Just in time for our not worrying about inflation anymore — as we (can it be?) pine for our summertime fretting about mounting gas and food prices — comes Robert Samuelson’s not exceptionally well-timed new book. From an “Economist” review:

Milton Friedman was wrong. Inflation is always and everywhere a social phenomenon, not a monetary one. At least, that is how Robert Samuelson sees it. “The Great Inflation and its Aftermath” dwells little on the economics of inflation; the main text does not mention the Federal Reserve until page 31. Instead, it examines the intellectual and political currents that let inflation rise from 1% in the early 1960s to nearly 15% in 1980 and then brought it down again.

The current intellectual and political current: Sheer panic. That works, too.

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