MONEY  139
the  middle  “  ’nineties  ”  prices  have  been
rising.
Variation  in  the  purchasing-power  of  money
may  be  a  serious  matter.  When  prices
fall  constantly  the  business  world  may  be
discouraged  and  thrown  into  a  state  of
depression.  On  the  other  hand,  when  prices
rise  constantly  business  may  become  overexcited ­
  ;  and  certainly  the  real  incomes  of
the  wage-earning  classes  are  automatically
reduced  so  that  discontent  is  engendered,
and  an  era  of  disturbance  in  the  distribution
of  wealth  is  ushered  in.
Indeed,  there  is  no  economic  phenomenon
which  remains  unaffected  by  an  alteration
of  the  purchasing-power  of  money.  The
rate  of  interest  will  probably  be  affected—
as  the  reader  will  understand  more  fully  after
studying  Chapter  VII.—because  an  anticipated
rise  in  the  value  of  what  is  saved  naturally
stimulates  saving,  while  an  anticipated  fall
in  its  value  has  the  reverse  effect.  And  the
relative  prices  of  different  classes  of  securities
will  undoubtedly  shift  in  a  disturbing  way.
When  prices  ascend,  for  instance,  the  value
of  shares  in  property,  say  of  shares  in
industrial  concerns,  will  ascend,  because
the  value  of  the  property  to  which  they
relate,  expressed  in  money,  will  ascend  ;  but