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Money Mischief, by Milton Friedman
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Money Mischief, by Milton Friedman, begins with anecdotes of the history of money. He soon plunges into the basic understanding of monetary policy, as such, in the age when money was specie (actual coins made up of a precious metal). He moves on to note that money by fiat, at least the types of systems we have today, have moved away from the stability that was inherent in coinage. And yet this is not necessarilly percieved as a bad thing if the government involved understands its role in expanding or contracting the money supply. A vast expansion in the money supply will benefit the government because it can spend more without taxes, but it hurts the people who must take the devalued currency as payment for the government's debt (bonds). The problem is that the investing public soon demands a greater interest rate on the debt. Soon a terrible spiral develops. This book was not necessarilly written for the general public, but should be of great interest to anyone who considers him or herself a student of economics.
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