This chapter presents the contributions of Alfred Marshall, Joan Robinson
and Milton Friedman to the study of prices. Firstly, Marshall highlighted the forces that
shape the perfect markets and its prices. Secondly, Robinson considered the dynamics
of real-world markets where imperfect competition seems to dominate. She showed
how imperfect competition affects pricing and strategic decision making. Finally,
Milton Friedman presented an analysis of inflation that restates the relevance of the
quantity theory of money to explain the roots of inflation. His approach to the trade-off
between inflation and unemployment has had deep consequences in the neoliberal
economic policy agenda.
Keywords: Perfect markets, Imperfect competition, Price stability.
