> ... how do we
> arbitrarily hold the money supply constant and cut
> the price level in half (or double it)? This
> question has validity now and previously.
> Robert Leeson
There was historically a deflation during the latter
1800s.
Suppose gold is money, and there is a fixed supply of
gold per capita. As technology advances and
productivity rises, with the per-capita money supply
(MV) staying fixed, then the price level would fall,
just as it did in the late 1800s. A price level
falling continuously at an annual rate of one percent
will get cut in half in 69 years. The per-capita
nominal income would stay the same, but it would buy
twice as much.
This though has little to do with the AS-AD model,
which is a hypothetical construct to show how the
equilibrium price level is determined, since with
lower prices the fixed money buys more stuff.
Fred Foldvary