rmacculloch
Nov 23, 20221 min
“Inflation is nobody’s friend,” Governor Orr told the Reserve Bank press conference this afternoon. Gosh maybe he could find some time to read the thousands of articles about the winners and losers from high inflation. Yes, inflation has vast redistributive effects and is a friend to many, and an enemy to others. Calling it "nobody's friend" is rubbish.
Here's a short reading list to get the RBNZ Board and its Senior Leadership Team going:
Inflation and the Redistribution of Nominal Wealth
The Impact of Inflation's Wealth Transfer Effect
Inflation and the Destruction of Democracy: The Case of the Weimar Republic
The last article explains how the redistributive effects of inflation contributed to the demise of the country & rise of the Nazis, as inflation became a friend to wealthy industrialists, financiers & speculators and an enemy to unsophisticated folks who held their funds in cash.
It beggars belief that the Governor would make such a strong statement about inflation which so wrongly characterizes its effects on the economy.
Sources: