The City Journal runs a wonderful piece on inflation’s moral cost by Theodore Dalrymple:
But asset inflation–ultimately, the debasement of the currency–as the principal source of wealth corrodes the character of people. It not only undermines the traditional bourgeois virtues but makes them ridiculous and even reverses them. Prudence becomes imprudence, thrift becomes improvidence, sobriety becomes mean-spiritedness, modesty becomes lack of ambition, self-control becomes betrayal of the inner self, patience becomes lack of foresight, steadiness becomes inflexibility: all that was wisdom becomes foolishness. And circumstances force almost everyone to join in the dance.
His thesis reminds me of this piece by Hulsmann.
