 Conversely, when such a country had a negative balance of trade, gold would flow out of the country in the amount that the value of imports exceeds the value of exports.Consequently, in the absence of any offsetting actions by the central bank on the quantity of money in circulation (called sterilization), the money supply would rise in a country with a positive balance of trade and fall in a country with a negative balance of trade.Using a theory called the quantity theory of money, Hume argued that countries with an increasing money supply would see inflation as the prices of goods and services rose while countries with a decreasing money supply would experience deflation as the prices of goods and services fell.