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Poor people try to save money too, and are more likely to have their savings in cash and bonds and therefore wiped out by unexpected inflation.

isostatic 7y ago
35% of the UK have a negative net worth. Inflation helps there, assuming your salary increaese with inflation. Interest rates of course then have the opposite effect, Year 1: debt of £100k and salary of £20k and 2% interest and 4% inflation. £18k left over, £100k owed (5x wage). Year 2: debt of £100k, salary of £20,800. £18,800 left over, £100k owed (4.8* salary) Year 10: debt of £100k, salary of £29600, £27,600 left over, £100k owed (3.4* salary) In Year 1 pounds, salary stays at £20k, but debt drops to £67,566, and interest payments drop to £1351 a year.
zaroth 7y ago
It’s not a judgement against poor people. No one has their savings “wiped out” by inflation. It is simply an annual cost for having assets, and an annual benefit for having debt. Since poor people necessarily have more debt on average than rich people, poor people on average benefit from higher inflation whereas to rich people it acts like a tax. For people who want a weath tax, I say, why not just target a slightly higher inflation rate?
- agent008t 7y ago
  I would argue that rich people have on average far, far more debt than poor people. Rich people also have far more ability to protect their assets from inflation than poor people. With regards to "no one has their savings wiped out by inflation", tell that to, say, Russians in the early 90s. Very real and very significant savings in Sberbank turned to virtually nothing, i.e. wiped out, by inflation. I would still argue that a higher unexpected inflation rate would hurt the poor the most, but may benefit middle class holding mortgages (although the more likely effect is that the negative effect on the overall economy would end up hurting everyone, with the poor being hurt the most).
- mijamo 7y ago
  Inflation can hurts pretty badly pensions though, so it's not only a rich vs poor thing. And also inflation is not uniform and depending on its composition can hurt poor people much worse than rich ones. Historically I haven't found any clue that a higher inflation would help against inequalities. Actually the only literature I have found on the topic seems to indicate a positive correlation between inequalities and inflation but the relation between both seem very complex and not really understood/modeled correctly right now.
  - leetcrew 7y ago
    > Inflation can hurts pretty badly pensions though, so it's not only a rich vs poor thing. all the more reason to keep moving away from defined benefit plans.
- nybble41 7y ago
  > It [inflation] is simply an annual cost for having assets Not all assets, just cash or claims denominated in cash (like loans). Most investments don't lose purchasing power just because you devalue the dollar. The poor are most likely to have the majority of their savings in the form of cash, for various reasons; minimum investment limits, for one, and also investing in general is more efficient when you have more money to invest. Below a certain point, the brokerage fees alone would outweigh any likely annual return. Moreover, in an inflationary economy consumer prices tend to rise faster than wages, so the purchasing power of labor declines. Deflation is just the opposite: Sure, wages are falling as the dollar becomes more valuable, but prices tend to fall even faster, so purchasing power increases. If you're looking to tax wealth then inflation is not the answer.

isostatic 7y ago

35% of the UK have a negative net worth. Inflation helps there, assuming your salary increaese with inflation. Interest rates of course then have the opposite effect, Year 1: debt of £100k and salary of £20k and 2% interest and 4% inflation. £18k left over, £100k owed (5x wage). Year 2: debt of £100k, salary of £20,800. £18,800 left over, £100k owed (4.8* salary) Year 10: debt of £100k, salary of £29600, £27,600 left over, £100k owed (3.4* salary) In Year 1 pounds, salary stays at £20k, but debt drops to £67,566, and interest payments drop to £1351 a year.

zaroth 7y ago

It’s not a judgement against poor people. No one has their savings “wiped out” by inflation. It is simply an annual cost for having assets, and an annual benefit for having debt. Since poor people necessarily have more debt on average than rich people, poor people on average benefit from higher inflation whereas to rich people it acts like a tax. For people who want a weath tax, I say, why not just target a slightly higher inflation rate?

agent008t 7y ago
I would argue that rich people have on average far, far more debt than poor people. Rich people also have far more ability to protect their assets from inflation than poor people. With regards to "no one has their savings wiped out by inflation", tell that to, say, Russians in the early 90s. Very real and very significant savings in Sberbank turned to virtually nothing, i.e. wiped out, by inflation. I would still argue that a higher unexpected inflation rate would hurt the poor the most, but may benefit middle class holding mortgages (although the more likely effect is that the negative effect on the overall economy would end up hurting everyone, with the poor being hurt the most).
mijamo 7y ago
Inflation can hurts pretty badly pensions though, so it's not only a rich vs poor thing. And also inflation is not uniform and depending on its composition can hurt poor people much worse than rich ones. Historically I haven't found any clue that a higher inflation would help against inequalities. Actually the only literature I have found on the topic seems to indicate a positive correlation between inequalities and inflation but the relation between both seem very complex and not really understood/modeled correctly right now.
- leetcrew 7y ago
  > Inflation can hurts pretty badly pensions though, so it's not only a rich vs poor thing. all the more reason to keep moving away from defined benefit plans.
nybble41 7y ago
> It [inflation] is simply an annual cost for having assets Not all assets, just cash or claims denominated in cash (like loans). Most investments don't lose purchasing power just because you devalue the dollar. The poor are most likely to have the majority of their savings in the form of cash, for various reasons; minimum investment limits, for one, and also investing in general is more efficient when you have more money to invest. Below a certain point, the brokerage fees alone would outweigh any likely annual return. Moreover, in an inflationary economy consumer prices tend to rise faster than wages, so the purchasing power of labor declines. Deflation is just the opposite: Sure, wages are falling as the dollar becomes more valuable, but prices tend to fall even faster, so purchasing power increases. If you're looking to tax wealth then inflation is not the answer.