Pierson on scarcity of gold and changes in the general price level

This paper is a historical reflection on the monetary view of Pierson. (1838-1910) a nineteenth-century Dutch economist, Bank president and prime minister, and his writing on the appropriateness of index numbers to measure inflation. Two aspects are conisdered. First, a policy of price stability should not focus solely on a general price index because this does not take inot account monetary factors sufficiently. Second, a pure monetary explanation as in the gold debate of the 1880s falls short of the mark and might conceal what really is going on, e.g. deflation.