Schumpeter on Inflation and Economic Policy

Zusammenfassung

A substantial part of the scientific work of Helmut Frisch has been devoted to the problem of inflation^s. This can be seen as a reflection of the fact that for a considerable part of the post-World War II-period, inflation and its containment or elimination had become a major issue of economic policy. Economic development of the industrialised part of the world in the second half of the 20th century is characterised by an uninterrupted upward movement of price levels, which — not withstanding differences between sub-periods and countries — displays a remarkable degree of uniformity in a historical perspective. In comparison, the first half of the 20th century is characterised by violent changes in price developments, which in some cases reached catastrophic dimensions: hyperinflation in some countries after World War I, deflation during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. As a consequence, there were considerable uncertainties with regard to the nature of the phenomenon as such as well as in people’s attitudes towards its economic and social effects.