Japanese and U.S. inflation

Recent Books International Money und Credit: The Policy Roles. George M. von Furstenberg, ed. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 1983. 596 pp. $28.50 ISBN O-939934-26-4 ($15.00 ISBN 0-93993427-2 paperbound). This volume contains the 8 papers and I9 comments delivered at an IMF conference held in March 1983, as well as the 4 background papers. The assessment of the recent past provides readers with clues about the future evolution of the international monetary system. The International Transmission of Inflation. Michael R. Darby, James R. Lothian, Arthur E. Gandolfi, Anna J. Schwartz, and Alan C. Stockman. NBER Monograph. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. 727 pp. $69.00 ISBN O-226-13641-8. This volume contains 17 papers and a data appendix. The major conclusions are the following: Both goods and assets are substitutable internationally but not perfectly; the balance of payments has no discernible effect on the American money supply; main transmission occurs via the balance-of-payments effects of goods and assets substitutability-currency substitution, .and the traditional absorption channel provide weak linkages. The empirical results thus support the portfolio-balance approach. Japanese and U.S. Inflation. Ching-yuan Lin. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, D.C. Heath, 1983. 157 pp. $25.00 ISBN 0-66907399-7. The inflation experience of Japan and the U.S. diverged markedly during the last decade. This book examines the reasons for this. Japan’s Economy in a Comparative Perspective. Gianni Fodella, ed. Tenterdern, Kent: Paul Norbury, 1983. 220 pp. (ISBN 0-90440445-5 paperbound). The eleven chapters in this book by European and Japanese authors provide a detailed appraisal of the Japanese economic system. Throughout, the Japanese and Italian economies are compared. The Limits of European Integration. Paul Taylor. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983. 325 pp. $27.50 ISBN 0-231-057148 ($15.00 ISBN 0231-05715-6 paperbound). Taylor provides an account of European integration in the last 486