The Return of Inflation: Money and Capital in the 21st Century

by Paul Mattick Jr.

Both a history and a contemporary analysis, an illuminating investigation of the defining economic concern of our time.
 
The last year has seen the return of inflation as a preoccupation of political decision-makers, economists, and the general public. After two decades of wondering why inflation was so low, despite vast economic stimulus, economists were surprised by the recent surge in price increases. Despite disagreement about what exactly is happening in the economy, there is unanimity in one slowing growth to control inflation. To focus on inflation’s return, Paul Mattick looks at both the past and present, placing current events in the context of capitalism’s history. Exploring the nature of money itself, he provides a concise, jargon-free understanding of recent inflation as well as official efforts to control it, illuminating the state of our contemporary economy.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published December 14, 2023

About the author

Paul Mattick Jr. (born 1944) is a Marxist theorist and philosopher.

He is the son of council communist theoreticians Paul Mattick Sr. (1904-1981) (author Paul Mattick) and Ilse Mattick (1919-2009).

Mattick obtained his PhD from Harvard in 1981, and is currently chair of the Department of Philosophy at Adelphi University in New York. He was previously the editor of the International Journal of Political Economy, and is the author of several books on philosophy of language, aesthetics, and the critique of political economy.

Reviews

[Ruairí]

Useful if compressed history of the place of money in history of political economy. Recent round of inflation more of a jumping off point to talk about money and capital rather than building to an argument about 2021-22 in particular. Found distinctions drawn between commodity money and credit (‘fiat’) money useful.

Deserves credit for not humouring left-Keynesianism (not that Mattick ever would be tempted to do so). It’s nice to read something that still takes the idea of a critique of political economy seriously. I like Adam Tooze but he and his ilk won’t save us.

Will be worth a second go at some point.

[Ed Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author accurately describes the failure of capitalism to deliver on its promises of full employment, a stable economy, and a fair distribution of wealth. In order to make up for the failures, governments have increasingly depended on government spending, taxation, and money printing. Over the long term this has created a trend toward inflation that over time pulls the wealth of the lower and middle class and concentrates it in the upper class. The author wonders when this concentration of money and power might come to an end.

“this social order had a historical beginning, it can certainly be brought to an end.”

It will be brought to an end, but not in the manner the author might wish. The concentration of money and power will continue and be brought to its full height. As the Roman Empire rose, 90% of Romans became part of the slave class. The same will happen (and is happening now) as the final empire rises.

Most people in politics know that very soon one power will control the world, they’re just not sure whether it will be the American Empire or the Chinese Empire. One will rule the world for a short time. But as they say, the bigger they come, the bigger they fall. When the final empire falls, it will mean the destruction of the earth.

The End.

[Jordan Ecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book works OK as a breezy monetary history, but I'm basically unpersuaded by the theory of inflation presented here. The understanding of Keynes is uncharitable and hackneyed, at best a sort of picture of a kind of 'bastard Keynesianism.' At times, the author's view comes close to resembling Hyman Minsky's (who somehow goes un-cited in a book that culminates in a view that all growth today in Ponzian) but then Mattick falls back on an almost instinctive orthodox monetarism. Thinking that taxes are simply a subtraction from profit is just too credulous. Government spending helps solves problems of declining profitability -- it doesn't provoke them! Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this to friends.