Part one of term paper
In the 1970s the prices of most things Americans buy more than doubled. Such a general increase in prices is called inflation. Prices of selected goods may increase for reasons unrelated to inflation: the price of fresh lettuce may rise because unseasonably heavy rainfall in California has ruined the lettuce crop, or the price of gasoline ma ...

Part two of term paper
... of money increased. During the 19th century prices tended to go downward as food and raw materials became cheaper. After major wars such as the Napoleonic Wars and World Wars I and II, prices again moved upward. In the 1950s and '60s a so-called creeping inflation occurred, when the general price level in the United States and Western Europe rose by an average of 1 to 5 percent each year. In the 1970s inflation increased until it reached as much as 13 percent a year in the United States. Many c ...