The purpose of this book is to summarize and evaluate the inflation literature of the two decades 1960–80. In this context two important questions arise: Did we learn anything? and What did we learn? The answer to the first question is undoubtedly yes; we try to answer the second question in Chapter 3, “The Phillips Curve,” in Chapter 4, “Monetarist Inflation Theory,” and in Chapter 5, “The Hypothesis of Structural Inflation.”

Because of the absence of a generally accepted paradigm in today's macroeconomics, it is not possible to develop contemporary inflation theory as a succession of models of increasing complexity. Rather, the models are developed chronologically as in the Phillips curve chapter, or in adherence to a particular school of economic thought, as in the chapter on monetarism.

The book is an expanded version of my article, “Inflation Theory 1963–1975: A ‘Second-Generation’ Survey,” in the Journal of Economic Literature, December 1977. Since the appearance of the article, inflation literature and macroeconomic theorizing have advanced considerably. These recent developments in inflation theory and related macroeconomics are also covered in the book.

In 1980 my book Die neue Inflationstheorie appeared in German. The present volume differs from it in that most of the chap ters have been substantially revised and new material has been added – for example, Chapter 6 on stagflation.

The book is written for students at the advanced undergraduate level and for professional economists who are looking for a reference text.