56

A TEEATISE ON MONEY

BK. II

the form in which units of Purchasing Power are held.The Index-Number of the price of the composite com-modity representative of consumption is the standardby which units of Purchasing Power are measured.

The problems which arise in the Theory of Price-Levels (or Index-numbers) will be discussed in thefollowing order:

1. The Purchasing Power of Money or Consump-tion Standard will be discussed in this chapter, alongwith the Labour Power of Money or Earnings Stand-ard which measures the power of money to com-mand units of human effort.

2. Certain secondary standards will be examinedin Chapter 5.

3. Some peculiar standards, which are appro-priate to certain equations arising in the Theory ofMoney or to doctrines, such as the alleged IntrinsicValue of Money, which have been held about it, willbe considered in Chapter 6 under the heading of“ Currency Standards

4. The relationships between different price-levelsand the tendencies, real or alleged, for them to movetogether will be briefly considered in Chapter 7 underthe heading of “ The Diffusion of Price-Levels

5. Finally in Chapter 8 we must attack the verydifficult problems involved in measuring changes inthe Purchasing Power of Money and the best means ofsolving them.

3. C. M. Walsh, The Measurement of General Exchange-Value.

4. Irving Fisher , The Purchasing Power of Money and The Making ofIndex-Numbers.

5. Wesley Mitchell, Index-Numbers of Wholesale Prices (U.S. Bureau ofLabour Statistics Bulletins 173 and 284).

6. A. C. Pigou , The Economics of W elf are, part i. chap. v.

7. G. Haberler , Der Sinn der Indexzahlen, 1927.

8. M. Olivier, Les Nombres Indices de la variation des prix, 1927 (anexcellent and learned resume and criticism of the existing literature).

Professor Fisher has in preparation a dictionary of existing Price Index-Numbers.