Economic Development and the Price Level (Reprints of Economic Classics)

This theoretical and empirical study of the relation between the behavior of the price level and economic growth first provides an examination of inflation and capital formation in underdeveloped countries. Then, theoretical issues relating to economic development and the price level in backward, more advanced and institutional economies are explored including the terms of trade of primary producers; agriculture and inflation; secular changes in the demand and supply of primary products, and; the terms of exchange of primary products in relation to the rate of growth. Concluding chapters provide data of the actual price and growth experience of a number of countries to illustrate the theoretical arguments. Particularly noteworthy is Maynard's original and analytically powerful argument that inflation often results from the disproportion between growth rates in the industrial and agricultural sectors. "An intelligent, closely reasoned book ... It demands and rewards careful reading." The Times Literary Supplement