Very fundamental changes in the nature of the world economy, principally World War I, war financing, the sensational inflation of the currencies of the combatants, and the remarkable developments in new scientific, industrial and agricultural methods had occurred; all requiring integration into a new theory. Fisher called interest "an index of a community's preference for a dollar of present [income] over a dollar of future income." He labeled his theory of interest the "impatience and opportunity" theory. Interest rates, Fisher postulated, result from the interaction of two forces: the "time preference" people have for capital now, and the investment opportunity principle (that income invested now will yield greater income in the future).

    

    In this new translation of two other seminal works by Mauriac, the 1930 novel What Was Lost and its theoretical basis, the 1929 essay God and Mammon, Raymond N. MacKenzie re-introduces Mauriac to the English speaking world. Featuring a scholarly introduction by MacKenzie that provides background on Mauriac's religious and artistic struggles, this new edition will delight scholars of Mauriac as well as contemporary readers previously unfamiliar with his work.

    This definitive, large-scale study explains the fate of business under one of the 20th century's most egregious inflations.Its history is deeply scientific. Graham covers the hyperinflation's origins in the crushing World War I reparations imposed by the Allies on Germany, the political factors that led to the choice of inflation as a way out, the regulation of business under inflation, price controls and their enforcement, the measurement of inflation, the effects on production, the devastation of national income, the gutting of genuine entrepreneurship, the losses on foreign trade, and the surprising winners from the wholesale looting, among many other considerations.This period presents a very strange paradox: business was booming during the inflation as never before. Bankruptcies were actually falling and new businesses were forming everywhere. And yet, looked at as a whole, the entire economic structure was being wiped out.Professor Graham resolves the paradox, showing how inflation creates a world in which the distinction between reality and illusion gets lost. Trading, speculation, working, and economic activity in general might have risen, but productivity, income, and economic well-being were being destroyed in the process. Economic activity was entirely diverted from production and wealth creation to consumption and speculation.Exchange, Prices, and Production in Hyper-Inflation ends with the ominous note that the main mystery yet to be decided concerned what the politics of the situation had in store. These political implications — "an inscrutable mystery" to Graham — were yet to be revealed by the time this book went to print in 1930. The mystery to be revealed in time was of course the rise of Hitler.To search for Mises Institute titles, enter a keyword and LvMI (short for Ludwig von Mises Institute); e.g., Depression LvMI