Inflation

An Analysis and History of Inflation
$103.95
This is a great book! I been looking for a book that would give me insight on how inflation is started and how it ends, as well as arguments for and against the gold standard, etc. I've read bits and pieces of this book's wisdow in a number of other books and articles, but this pulls it all together. From this book I got true insights on why inflation is basically unavoidable in any country: given time something is going to happen (usually war) or someone is going to come along to convince a population's leaders to debase the money supply - no matter what money standard you are on. Rome had a type of gold standard, the US had a gold standard, etc. People make the standard, people can change the standard.

I know this sounds overly simple, but inflation is too much money pursuing too few goods/services. And the early effects of inflation are the forbidden fruit that few politicians can bear. (Note: Makes you wonder why the Fed did away with the M3 measure for the money supply.) If you want to understand inflation, I can think of no better way than to review 15 examples. Thanks Paarlberg!

Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the International Experience
$29.95
Inflation Targeting is a kind of monetary policy first exercised in New Zealand, in practice, and afterwards brought to the academy research. This book analyses the way that this and many other countries dealed with the new approach of conducting monetary policy towards inflation control, bringing a full and comprehensive description of the behaving of their economies as well as their main macroeconomic variables, before, during and after the targets have been set. It is extremely well written, making its reading very pleasant, and provides the reader a full description of the inflation targeting implementation.

The Economics Of Inflation - A Study Of Currency Depreciation In Post War Germany
$44.95
This work contains an impressive amount of information about inflation in Germany during the 1920s - more than enough to demonstrate the viciousness of the beast once it was unleashed. The tome also describes how people worked around the effects and how some benefitted handsomely. If double-digit inflation - or worse - were to return to America, the lessons that can be learned from this book could prove very valuable. It takes some digging to get at the "nuggets" - but these insights are well worth the effort.
Two factors make this book a hard study. First, the author provides so much information as to literally "demolish" the issue - and probably many a reader's patience and endurance, too. Less would have been more! Second, the author spends many pages trying to separate causes from effects. For example, did policy decisions cause inflation and the increase of money in circulation - or did the printing of money cause inflation regardless of policy or even in the absence of it. To an aficionado who is not a professional economist, such questions seem moot: the two phenomena seem related in a non-linear way - in which each can feed back to (and on) the other. Cause and effect can then be hard to separate - and arguments among adherents of different perceptions can then appear to be based more on faith than on sound analysis. One is reminded of academic fights which - as Henry Kissinger once quipped - are especially tough because the stakes are so small.
The translation into English is welcome to those of us who do not read Italian. Deplorably, the quality of the translation leaves much to be desired: awkward formulations and grammar detract from substance and flavor. The book cries out for a good editor who understands the subject and can put it in plain English. Then again, that is hardly uncommon.
In sum, I recommend the book to all who wish to know how super-inflation developed in Germany in the 1920s, who was hurt and who benefitted, and therefore how one might defend against future inflation. Readers can expect to learn much about effects but little about causes. The insights to be gained are well worth the considerable effort and tenacity that is required to gain them.

Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse
$27.95
Excellent book about our current economic conditions (in USA), threats and how to protect yourself financially. It is well written with great analogies which keeps it very interesting. To the point but provides enough foundation to educate. Highly recommended.