P. R. Brahmananda. Money, Income, Prices in 19th Century India. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House, 2001. 744 pages. Hardbound. Indian Rs 1800.00

In: The Pakistan development review: PDR, Volume 40, Issue 3, p. 239-241

Abstract

Money, income, and prices are important macroeconomic
variables that play a crucial roles in an economy. The trends in money
supply, movements in prices, changes in nominal and real income, as well
as their interrelationships affect the economic life and well-being of a
nation. The compilation of data on these magnitudes over long periods of
time along with the supporting analysis is what constitutes monetary
history. The present book by P. R. Brahmananda has carried out such an
exercise for India. In presenting the monetary history of India, the
author has kept the pioneering work of Milton Friedman and Anna Shwartz
as a model for his work, and has comprehensively treated the 19th
century events and experiences of the then Indian Subcontinent in the
monetary and related areas. In the process, more than 200 time series of
different variables have been brought together. The book not only
contains a narrative account including the summary of the various
viewpoints before the currency committees, and a detailed chronology of
the period, but also examines the pros and cons of the various
controversies of that period. Moreover, it subjects the empirical
evidence to econometric testing of several important hypotheses of the
modern-day monetary theory.