Let's talk about inflation...“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” — Milton Friedmanimg source: quotefancyWhat is Inflation?Within ‘Orthodox’ (actually neo-classical — why do they get to decide what is orthodox?) economics, inflation is typically defined as the rate of increase in prices over time. Within the context of a national economy, there are close relationships between the monetary base and price levels. In some heterodox economics schools, such as Austrian economics, inflation is explicitly defined as expansion of the monetary base. The monetary base is the total amount of money circulating in the economy. There are several ways of measuring the monetary base, which makes the debate particularly challenging. If your opponent claims there is no relationship between monetary base and inflation, you accuse them of measuring the monetary base incorrectly!