5. Monetarists believe that economic instability is almost exclusively the result of erratic fluctuations in the money supply. Monetary acceleration initially leads to a higher real income, but inflation will eventually result. Responding to the inflation, the monetary authorities will inevitably decelerate monetary growth. This deceleration will lead to an economic slowdown. Monetarists argue that the major economic recessions of the past were the result of monetary contraction and that the major inflationary booms were the result of monetary acceleration. The major cause of the business cycle, in the view of the monetarists, is inept monetary policy.