Money, Income, Prices in 19th Century India
A Historical, Quantitative and Theoretical Study
P R Brahmananda
Himalaya Publishing House
Rs 1800
Work on this study, with support from the Reserve Bank of India, began in 1987 when Professor Brahmananda retired from Bombay University. The result, produced not so long ago, is a product of immense value and is likely to be termed a classic which is naturally going to be of lasting value.
History is of interest for a variety of reasons, but monetary history with an empirical construct when used to produce counter factual simulations is fascinating. Was abandoning of the silver standard in 1880 appropriate? The book argues, on the basis of a macroeconometric model, that it was not an apt policy.
With 30 chapters of text, a summary and 26 pages of historical time series for the period starting from 1835-36, but in many cases 1861-62 to 1899-1900, it provides a monetary history of the 19th century.
The author modestly states that the works of Friedman and Shwarz are the lamp-posts for his study. Again monetary history is defined as a subject that deals with the course of money, incomes, trade, prices, interest rates, exchange rate and all such variables, which have relation with monetary magnitudes.
And all this to be done when there was little by way of numbers to begin with. And of course, which India would the data apply to? The author says that this is not India
