oh. 17 CHANGES DUE TO MONETARY FACTORS 275

to placate in this way their suppressed reactionsagainst the distastefulness of Capitalism— who drawa gloomy satisfaction from the speculative and busi-ness losses, the low prices, and the high real-wages,accompanied, however, by unemployment, whichcharacterise the typical depression . 1 Nor is it asufficient justification of the latter state of affairs,that, necessity being the mother of invention, thereare certain economies and technical improvementswhich the business world will only make under thestimulus of distress ; for there are other improve-ments which will only mature in an atmosphere ofoptimism and abundance.

Finally, where our Central Bank is a member of aninternational monetary system, bank-rate policy willsometimes have to be brought into action, neither toprevent credit fluctuations nor to establish a newequilibrium level of prices, but deliberately to provokea profit inflation or deflation in order to keep step witha similar disturbance occurring in the outside world.

1 See, however, Chapter 19 § (i.) below.