12 
Inflation and Stabilization 
systematic. regulation of the supply of means of 
payment. This regulation gives to the currency a 
purchasing power corresponding to that of gold. 
The simplest case is, of course, when gold itself 
retains invariable purchasing power as against 
commodities. Then it is only necessary to regulate 
the currency so that its purchasing power remains 
constant. But this is precisely the same thing that 
we have to do when we wish to stabilize an ordi- 
nary paper currency. If it is possible to attain 
a stabilization at an increased value of the cur- 
rency, it must a fortiori be possible to carry 
through a stabilization at the present value of the 
currency. If the currency is to be bound up with 
gold and thus become a gold standard, stabiliza- 
tion at the present gold value must be easier than 
stabilization at a higher, pre-War gold parity and 
cannot under any circumstances involve additional 
difficulties. Quite a different thing is that a coun- 
try may have greater difficulty in coming to 
unanimity in the choice of a. reduced level of 
stabilization than in a decision to restore the old 
gold standard. 
In one point the program of stabilization at 
the present value requires more definiteness. We 
are accustomed to measure the purchasing power 
of our money by the aid of wholesale price index