Short- and Long-Run Price Level Uncertainty Under Different Monetary Policy Regimes : An International Comparison

"The course of events during the nineteenth century favored such ideas [as price stability] ... the remarkable feature of this long period was the relative 'stability' of the price level. Approximately the 'same' level of price ruled in or about the years 1826, 1841, 1855, 1862, 1867, 1871 and 1915. Prices were also level in the years 1844, 1881 and 1914 ... No wonder that we came to believe in the stability of money contracts over a long period." J.M. Keynes, 'Essays in Persuasion' (1923 [1932], pp. 88-89)