<p>This topic on bitcointalk forum might be a good place to start: 
<a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=11627.0" rel="nofollow">Deflation and Bitcoin, the last word on this forum</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T16:09:13.273Z
2011-10-07T16:09:13.273Z
nmat
<p>Does anyone know of any good book/paper/article comparing the inflatory and deflatory economies? I would like to know if there are any scientific publications on the matter that are approachable to non-economists (I`m a computer science student). I need it as a source for background information for my master thesis.</p>

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2011-10-07T13:42:04.627Z
This seems off-topic, since there is nothing explicitly "Bitcoin" about the question.
eMansipater
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T14:27:48.660Z
Agreed. Perhaps ThePiachu should help the [Economics](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1618/economics) SE site get off the ground?
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T15:09:57.813Z
@eMansipater well, it is a bit off topic, as it doesn't involve Bitcoins directly, but there is a lot of talk about "Will deflation destroy Bitcoins" and so forth, so deflation economy is related to Bitcoins.
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T15:10:04.833Z
@DavidPerry I will check out that SE, but it does not seem to be up yet.
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T15:39:48.743Z
As I said, you could help it get off the ground. It's on Area51 in the commit phase. Not much help to you right this second but a future resource is better than no resource at all. If it helps right now, Wikipedia has some good [historical examples](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation#Historical_examples) of deflation, including a recent one from Ireland which features mild inflation and is not regarded negatively. For the effects of inflation... just look around, chances are you live in it.
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T15:47:43.600Z
As a general rule, though, it's not the choice between inflation/deflation that ruins economies, it's the RATE of either. Massive hyperinflation has led to the laughing stock that is the Zimbabwe dollar just as massive deflation led to the Great Depression in the US. Conversely, most every nation lives happily with a slight constant inflation, while Ireland has been deflating by 6.6% per year quite happily since 2009. The UK even saw 10-15% deflation rates in the 20's and 30's with only moderate negative effect (compared to the US' Great Depression anyway).
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T16:46:08.383Z
@ThePiachu I understand the train of thought, but this site is more like a reference (which sticks to it's own topic) than a forum (which follows whichever topics the users get into).  It's a good question and I'm sure it will help for your thesis, but a) you're not going to find the right experts for it here, and b) people searching for something like this will be ending up on the wrong site.  It's the latter concern that ultimately defines the success or failure of the site at large, so we have to keep that in particular focus during the beta.
eMansipater
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-07T17:23:03.590Z
Indeed. Two of google's biggest pagerank mechanisms (# of pages and # of linkbacks) tend to make SE sites feature VERY prominently in search results. We have to be aware that non-Bitcoin questions may be polluting search results for non-Bitcoin terms. It's not personal, quite the opposite it's about being a responsible netizen :)
David Perry
<economic-theory><bitcoin-economy><academic-research>
Inflatory and deflatory economy comparison
ThePiachu
# Inflatory and deflatory economy comparison

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-10-07)

Does anyone know of any good book/paper/article comparing the inflatory and deflatory economies? I would like to know if there are any scientific publications on the matter that are approachable to non-economists (I`m a computer science student). I need it as a source for background information for my master thesis.

**Tags:** economic-theory, bitcoin-economy, academic-research

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This seems off-topic, since there is nothing explicitly "Bitcoin" about the question.  
> **username_2**: Agreed. Perhaps username_0 should help the [Economics](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1618/economics) SE site get off the ground?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 well, it is a bit off topic, as it doesn't involve Bitcoins directly, but there is a lot of talk about "Will deflation destroy Bitcoins" and so forth, so deflation economy is related to Bitcoins.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 I will check out that SE, but it does not seem to be up yet.  
> **username_2**: As I said, you could help it get off the ground. It's on Area51 in the commit phase. Not much help to you right this second but a future resource is better than no resource at all. If it helps right now, Wikipedia has some good [historical examples](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation#Historical_examples) of deflation, including a recent one from Ireland which features mild inflation and is not regarded negatively. For the effects of inflation... just look around, chances are you live in it.  
> **username_2**: As a general rule, though, it's not the choice between inflation/deflation that ruins economies, it's the RATE of either. Massive hyperinflation has led to the laughing stock that is the Zimbabwe dollar just as massive deflation led to the Great Depression in the US. Conversely, most every nation lives happily with a slight constant inflation, while Ireland has been deflating by 6.6% per year quite happily since 2009. The UK even saw 10-15% deflation rates in the 20's and 30's with only moderate negative effect (compared to the US' Great Depression anyway).  
> **username_1**: @username_0 I understand the train of thought, but this site is more like a reference (which sticks to it's own topic) than a forum (which follows whichever topics the users get into).  It's a good question and I'm sure it will help for your thesis, but a) you're not going to find the right experts for it here, and b) people searching for something like this will be ending up on the wrong site.  It's the latter concern that ultimately defines the success or failure of the site at large, so we have to keep that in particular focus during the beta.  
> **username_2**: Indeed. Two of google's biggest pagerank mechanisms (# of pages and # of linkbacks) tend to make SE sites feature VERY prominently in search results. We have to be aware that non-Bitcoin questions may be polluting search results for non-Bitcoin terms. It's not personal, quite the opposite it's about being a responsible netizen :)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-10-07. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

This topic on bitcointalk forum might be a good place to start:
[Deflation and Bitcoin, the last word on this forum](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=11627.0)


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