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This thesis makes an analysis of the major inflationary mechanisms that origins from factors inherent to Russia's new economic environment since the beginning of the reform program in January 1992. After some theoretical clarifications over the two different views of the inflationary dynamics, (i.e. the monetary and the fiscal view), an accurate picture of the inflationary structures of the industrial and the financial sector will be made. Then the various factors (other than the January's price liberalization) responsible for the persistence of the high level of inflation in the country will be systematically studied (i.e. firms' soft budget constraint, indexation mechanisms and inflation inertia process, dollarization and depreciation of the ruble, and the use of seigniorage by the government). An anti-inflationary program including an efficient bankruptcy law, a tax-payment and government-bond indexation, is proposed. However, political pressures coming from various coalitions hostile to the economic reform are viewed as what activate the inflationary process in Russia.

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In 1944, the government of newly liberated Greece faced a crisis of staggering proportions, with a devastated economy and a currency undermined by rampant hyperinflation. Anxious to preserve Greece as a friendly 'outpost in South-Eastern Europe', the British provided advisors to help overcome the crisis. Whatever the political motives of the British, their economic advice was largely orthodox and sound, enshrining the only measures likely to provide a long-term solution to the problem of inflation. Nevertheless, successive governments in Athens managed to avoid acting on the advice in the hope that massive amounts of Allied aid would eliminate the need for painful policies, and preferring to adopt palliative measures which allowed wealthy Greeks to protect their assets while the underlying problems remained unaddressed. Exasperated by their lack of success, the British withdrew in early 1947, to be replaced by the Americans. The mixed success of the American advisors over the subsequent year merely confirmed the extensive problems which had earlier thwarted the British efforts. The thesis demonstrates how the inertia of successive Greek governments led to the prolongation of the economic crisis. It also shows how the attitudes of the Greek political establishment during 1944-47 - with endless squabbling, an obsessive anti-Communism, a relentlessly laissez faire approach to the economy, a cavalier lack of concern towards chronic balance of payments and budget deficits, a reliance on foreign capital coupled with a resentment of any conditions foreign aid might entail - were all firmly established within Greek political culture prior to World War II.

The essay investigates if one monetary policy goal could be sufficient to stabilize both inflation and real economic fluctuations. The results indicate that one policy goal could be sufficient, nonetheless when empirically comparing Sweden and Canada’s monetary policy and the market outcome in these markets.

The term structure of interest rates as described by yield curves has the potential to contain information about the course of future nominal and real interest rates, inflation and economic activity. The link between the yield curve and these economic variables is formalised via capital asset pricing models. The information in yield curves is examined in a systematic manner using two new term structure data sets. The first one is an extended version of the McCulloch yield data for the United States for the period 1947-91 and the second one is a new highly detailed data set for the United Kingdom supplied by the Bank of England for this study, which consists of daily observations on yields for the period 4th January 1983 to 30th November 1993.Empirical evidence for the United States for the period 1952-91 shows that inflation and real interest rate changes tend to offset each other so that there is no useful information about nominal interest rates. Information about the real term structure is sometimes obscured by the offsetting effects of real interest rates and term premiums. Evidence is presented that shows yield spreads may give more unambiguous signals about economic activity if such activity is measured in relative terms. The better predictive power of UK term structures with regard to nominal interest rates is due to inflation and real interest rates moving together in the same direction. The phenomenon of disinflation can produce highly significant information about the real term structure. For the US and, more particularly, the UK, the predictive power of the yield curve is subject to significant change. The main conclusion reached is that over-reliance certainly should not be placed on the yield curve as a leading economic indicator.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-82). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / ix, 82 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm