The invention of inflation-indexed bonds in early America
By: Robert J. Shiller.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 10183; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 10183.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Inflation-indexed bonds -- Massachusetts -- History -- 18th century.
Description: "The world's first known inflation-indexed bonds were issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1780 during the Revolutionary War.  These bonds were invented to deal with severe wartime inflation and with angry discontent among soldiers in the U.S.  Army with the decline in purchasing power of their pay.  Although the bonds were successful, the concept of indexed bonds was abandoned after the immediate extreme inflationary environment passed, and largely forgotten until the twentieth century.  In 1780, the bonds were viewed as at best only an irregular expedient, since there was no formulated economic theory to justify indexation"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.