"Imagine a world without inflation: prices in the shops rising in some years but falling in others; pay rising by 2 or 3% in the good years, but static or falling in the bad ones; house prices as likely to fall as to rise; interest rates in the range 2-4%."--BOOK JACKET. "In the post-war period of producer power companies could push up prices and groups of workers could push up pay. Now, by contrast, both businesses and workers are tightly constrained....