An Introduction to the Study of Prices. By Walter T.
Layton, M.A. (Macmillan and Co. 2s. 6d. net.)—In view of the public discussion daring the last year or two with regard to the rise in prices, Mr. Walter Layton's little volume, which he calls An Intro- duction to the Study of Prices, will be found extremely useful by students of the subject. Mr. Layton has the Cambridge merit of not dogmatizing overmuch. He states his case and gives the arguments in a judicial manner, leaving the reader to a large extent to form his own judgment. He makes it, however, sufa- siently clear that the quantitative theory of money—at any rate in its cruder form—can no longer be upheld, and that the influence on prices of a sudden increase in the production of gold is due less to the addition made to the total volume of gold in the world than to the stimulus given to other industries by the actual business of extracting gold. The book is made further valuable by a series of very useful tables showing the output of gold and the index numbers of prices.
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