A Short History of Socialist Money

This is a short historical and institutional study of the nature and role of money in the planned economies. Evidence of monetary developments from the Soviet Union, East Germany, China, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary is used as the empirical basis of the book with data running up to 1989. Peebles discusses the origins and similar nature of their currencies, their value base, analyzes the money supply process, studies the relationship beween money and prices, reviews various theories of the nature of socialist money and examines the financial crisis facing the Soviet Union before its break-up. The approach is straightforward and firmly empirical, using simple statistics and diagrams to illustrate the major points of theory and evidence. A consistent frameowrk is used to explain the nature of the relationship between inflation and monetary growth in all the countries under study. "A short history of socialist money" will interest students and researchers in monetary economics, the planned economies, comparative economic studies, Soviet and post-Soviet studies and economic history.
"Dr Gavin Peebles is Senior Research Fellow in the Contemporary China Centre of the Research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University. His main teaching and research interests lie in the field of comparative economic studies and he has published articles on aspects of the economies of China, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Hong Kong. He has just published "Money in the People's Republic of China" (Allen & Unwin).". This book is intended for researchers and students of monetary economics, socialist economics,comparative economics and economic and monetary history.