H O W A N E C O N O M Y G R O W S A N D W H Y I T C R A S H E S
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enough),
stay fl at, or fall less than they would have with no
infl ation.
But during a recession prices
need to fall in order to
rebalance the economy. Recessions should be defl ationary.
Falling prices will cushion the blow of low employment.
Somehow, modern economists see
falling prices as a never-
ending abyss toward demand destruction.
They forget that
when
prices fall far enough, people start spending again. The
process allows unneeded
inventories to be worked off, and
for prices to fall to a level justifi ed
by underlying supply and
demand.
By keeping
prices artifi cially high, infl ation
prevents this from
happening.