Coleman (Australian National U.) asks why inflation exists, why it is costly, and why it is beneficial. He works through the Quantity Theory (which presumes inflation results from the reduction
in the value of money when certain elements demand an increase in the money supply) to find why inflation exists. He finds the cost of inflation more difficult, examining various approaches
that include the notion that in equilibrium inflation is neutral in cost, leading to situations in which inflation can be good. Along the way he explores the demand for money, theories of the
supply of money, inflation without a quantity of money, technological risk and the social function of real debt, monetary risk and the social function of money debt, the Quantity Theory and
Wicksellianism in a risky world, and the cost of inflation as the cost of not having money or credit. Annotation 穢2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
