STABILIZING THE DOLLAR CHAPTER I THE FACTS i. Index Numbers This book aims to show how prices in general can be controlled. A great teacher once said to his students: " Divide the study of any social situation into four questions: What is it? Why is it? What of it? What are you going to do about it? " Accordingly I shall take up, in successive chapters, (1) the actual facts to be explained; (2) the chief causes which explain them; (3) the resultant evils which make a remedy desirable; and (4) the remedy. The present chapter is devoted to the first of these four topics - the facts, as shown by the recorded price movements of history.1 The prices of various articles do not usually move together but scatter or disperse like the fragments of a bursting shell. Yet there is always a definite average movement just as there is a definite path of the center of gravity of the shell-fragments. In order to depict the average movement of prices we must first have some way to measure it. AAbout the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books" Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Stabilizing the Dollar: A Plan to Stabilize the General Price Level Without Fixing Individual Prices (Classic Reprint) (Irving Fisher)