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The Role of War in Modern Inflation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

Earl J. Hamilton
Earl J. Hamilton
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Abstract

Wars in early modern times, although frequent, generated little price inflation because of their limited demands on real resources. The invention of paper currency and the resort to deficit financing to pay for wars changed that situation. In recent centuries wars have been the principal causes of inflation, although since World War II programs of social welfare unmatched by offsetting taxation have also fueled inflationary flames.

Type
Papers Presented at the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , March 1977 , pp. 13 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1977

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References

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5 To whom I am not related.

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