by Gary North by Gary North The debate over inflation versus
deflation has been going on in hard money circles since about
1973. The debate has gone on within academic circles for well
over a century. The economists are as confused as the general
public, but they are confused in a far more sophisticated way.
They turn confusion into a science. I follow the Austrian School
of economics on monetary theory. The most important study of the
theory of money within the Austrian School camp was published in
1912, The Theory of Money and Credit, written by Ludwig von
Mises. You can download it for free here. More popular and more
readable books have been written on this by his disciple, Murray
Rothbard. His book, What Has Government Done to Our Money? is
the clearest exposition ever written. You can download it here.
I have also written a short book on the topic, Mises on Money.
Download it here. Finally, there is my more detailed book,
Honest Money. Austrian School economists define inflation as
follows: "an increase