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In monetary economics, the quantity theory of money (QTM) states that the general price level of goods and services is directly proportional to the amount of money in circulation, or money supply. The theory was originally formulated by Polish mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus in 1517, and was influentially restated by philosophers John Locke, David Hume, Jean Bodin, and by economists Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz in A Monetary History of the United States published in 1963.

The theory was challenged by Keynesian economics, but updated and reinvigorated by the monetarist school of economics. Critics of the theory argue that money velocity is not stable and, in the short-run, prices are sticky, so the direct relationship between money supply and price level does not hold. In mainstream macroeconomic theory, changes in the money supply play no role in determining the inflation rate. In such models, inflation is determined by the monetary policy reaction function.

Alternative theories include the real bills doctrine and the more recent fiscal theory of the price level

Principles

The theory above is based on the following hypotheses:

1. The source of inflation is fundamentally derived from the growth rate of the money supply.
2. The supply of money is exogenous.
3. The demand for money, as reflected in its velocity, is a stable function of nominal income, interest rates, and so forth.
4. The mechanism for injecting money into the economy is not that important in the long run.
5. The real interest rate is determined by non-monetary factors: (productivity of capital, time preference).

The pink tax is a phenomenon often attributed as a form of gender-based price discrimination, with the name stemming from the observation that many of the affected products are pink. This is not a literal tax, but a broad tendency for products marketed specifically toward women to be more expensive than those marketed for men, despite either gender’s choice to purchase either product. The NYC Department of Consumer Affairs conducted a study that concludes that women’s products are typically more expensive than men’s (in New York city) without reasonable cause. There are many causes of this discrepancy, including the tampon tax, product differentiation, and the belief that women are less price elastic than men.

Products marketed specifically toward women cost on average 7% more than products marketed toward men, according to a New York City Department of Consumer Affairs study. This discrepancy applies to apparel, toys, and healthcare products, among other things. In the toy sector, girls’ toys cost on average 7% more than boys’ toys.The study talked about a side-by-side comparison of a Radio Flyer scooter where the red scooter costs $24.99 and a pink scooter, identical in all ways but color, costs $49. In children’s apparel, girls’ clothes were 4% more expensive than boys’. Men’s clothing was 8% less expensive than women’s clothes. The largest discrepancy came to personal care/hygiene products, where women’s products cost 13% more than men’s.

Economic impact

The economic impact of the pink tax is that women have less purchasing power, especially paired with the gender-based pay gap. The wage gap already puts women at a disadvantage when it comes to purchasing power. Women currently make a statistical average 89 cents for every $1 a man earns in the United States, meaning women statistically, on average, have less income to spend on goods and services. This alone gives men more money and, ultimately, more buying power. The pink tax further contributes to the economic inequality between men and women. Paying more for goods and services marketed to women while women earn less than men means men hold the majority of the purchasing power in the economy. Taxes on feminine hygiene products that men don’t need further contributes to this discrepancy.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.