Inflation: The Moral‐Behavioural Aspect

Abstract

High inbuilt inflation is a frightening problem for many western societies, undermining not merely the efficiency of the economy but the moral strength of participants as well. There is a widespread if loose belief that the recommendations of economists amount to little more than moving the furniture about, while deep causes remain untouched. My thesis—which in the nature of the case cannot be “proven” but can only be presented as plausible—is that conventional anti‐inflation policies and new expedients will not work so long as they do not receive the moral co‐operation of the free agents of a democratic society. Accordingly, this article (l)notes the failure of present policies, (2)outlines the distributional quarrel at the centre of current inflation, (3)asks how basic corrections may be set in motion, and (4)concludes by relating our lack of confrontation of the moral side of inflation partly to the mechanistic nature of economic analysis and partly to the apparent break‐down of values in society. Throughout, “moral” denotes my concern with behaviour as a matter of conscience and responsibility, and my open reference to ethics in contrast to talk of “sociological factors” and “political economy”.

Citation

McKee, A.F. (1981), "Inflation: The Moral‐Behavioural Aspect", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 21-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013888