The Economics of High Inflation [Hardcover]

This book describes the complex of economic processes which sustains inflationary pressure in nations with severe inflation problems. Paul Beckerman uses an innovative approach to study the strategies inhabitants of economies with lengthy inflation experience use to maintain their purchasing power despite inflation. He examines how these tactics function as 'feedback mechanisms', economic processes by which inflation in any given time period generates inflationary pressure in subsequent periods, and how they complicate the efforts of policy-makers to achieve stabilization.Acknowledgements - The Inflation Enigma - Why Inflation is 'A Bad Thing' - Inflation Feedback - Inflation Feedback and Competition for Purchasing Power - Inflation and Financial Systems - The Dilemmas of Inflation-Stabilization Policy - Inflation Stabilization under External Constraint - Indexation and Dollarization - Recent 'Heterodox' Stabilization Experiences: Argentina, Israel, Brazil, 1985-89 - Toward a Theory of Self-Perpetuating Inflation - Notes - References - Index