Milton Friedman: Money and Inflation

Milton Friedman: Money and Inflation

Inflation is blamed on many things.

But it has only one cause: It is a monetary phenomenon.

Inflation occurs when the quantity of money increases faster than the quantity of goods.

Why does the money supply increase?

Very often, it does so to enable the government to pay its bills without raising taxes.

There's only one real cure for inflation.

It is a cure that's easy to describe but difficult to apply: The government must reduce spending and print less money.

The alternatives are both recession and double-digit inflation.