inflation affects the different sectors of the economy differently. in general, effects of inflation seem to be negative. but if the rate of inflation is low, then this provides some motion to the economy. this sort of motion increase the employment and leads the economy towards development and prosperity. but, when the rate of inflation is high, then this will affect the economy negatively. this will hinder the capital formation as well as create the black market and artificial scarcity with decrease in the quantity of goods. if the income of people increases in proportion to the increase in the price of goods, then this is not regarded as harmful. but if the price and income do not increase proportionately in the economy, then this will affect different sectors of the society differently. the sector having fixed income will be affected more than the other sectors, thus, effects of inflation can be explained more clearly by dividing them into two part. they are :
1. economic effects
2. non-economic effects
1. economic effects of inflation
economy is deeply affected by inflation. the economic effects of inflation can be divided into two parts. they are:
i. effects on production
creeping inflation has positive effect in the economy because in the beginning the increase n price is very small. in such situation, due to small increase in the cost of production, the profit also increases by a small scale. this affects the economy positively. when hyper inflation occurs in the economy, then due to uncertainly there will be negative effect in production. therefore, hyper inflation is harmful to the economy. the negative effects on production can explained as follows:
(1) disrupts in price system: inflation will disrupt the price system which will increase slowly. as a result if this the factors won't be mobilized properly.
(2) discourage to foreign capital: inflation not only decrease the saving of domestic capital, it also result in the devaluation of money . as a result, there won't be profit for the foreign investors and this will discourage the foreign capital investment.
(3) reduction in capital accumulation: inflation badly affects saving and capital formation because high price needs to be paid for the goods when price increase. as a result there won't be any saving and sources of investment will be closed.
(4) encourages hoarding: when prices increase people will increase the stock to create artificial scarcity in order to earn more profits. from this , the businessmen specially the black marketers will make excessive profits. due to fear of further increase in price people will start hoarding more goods and this will increase the price even more.
(5) encouragement to speculation activities: inflation encourages speculation activities withe further increase in prices. businessmen instead of producing proper goods for earning profits, shift to easy and fast profit making activities.
(6) reduction in the volume of production: inflation reduces the volume if production in two ways. firstly, there won't be any capital formation due to lack of saving. secondly, due to uncertainty in the business, the producers are not ready to bear risks. therefore, there will reduction in the volume of production.
(7) effects on the pattern of production: hyper inflation brings about the change in the pattern of production. due to inflation, income of some people will increase comprehensively while income of some other people will decrease. people with increased income will demand for luxury goods in greater quantity. therefore, production of luxury goods will increase and the production of necessary goods will decrease.
(8) decrease in quality: in the state of inflation, the inflation of the sellers in the market will increase. as a result, to earn more profit, they will reduce the quality of the goods.
ii.effects on distribution of wealth
inflation badly affects on the distribution of wealth. when price increases in the economy, some class ofthe society will benefit and some class will face loss. in any society, there will be two classes of people. one having constant income and the other having variable income. if the inflation prevails for a long period then businessmen, industrialists and rich people will become even richer while the poor class and people with fixed income ( servicemen, teachers, people dependent on pension and some kind of rent) will become poorer facing even worse situations. so, effects of inflation on different people of the society are as follows:
(1) debtor and creditor: when price increases, the debtor will benefit and the creditor will suffer loss. when price increases, then the value of money will decrease. the money returned by the debtor will be able to purchase less quantity of goods and services than before. what is clear from this is that, the value of money is more at the time if taking loan and the value of money is less at the time of returning the loan. therefore, debtor will have some sort of benefit and the creditor will have some loss during the time of inflation.
(2) wage and salary earners
daily wage earners and salary earners are affected more by inflation. there are mainly two reasons for this. firstly wage and salary do not increase in proportion to the increase in price. secondly, the gap between the increase in price and the increase in wage and salary will become even wider. in such a situation, labors and servicemen not associated with labor union will be affected more. that is . they will suffer more loss.
(3) fixed income earner group: people dependent on fixed income, such as pension, house- rent and previous saving will be affected by inflation. thus is, inflation will harm the people having fixed income. but people having variable income, such as, industrialists, businessmen and share-holders will benefit from inflation . the income of such people will increase during the time of inflation.
(4) business community: all types of business communities, such as producers businessmen, entrepreneurs, speculation group etc, earn profit deuing the time of inflation. to earn more profit in short period. they will increase the price of goods more than the increase in the cost of production of such goods. similarly , since the value of the assets of such people increase such communities will be in profit.
(5) investors: investors are affected by inflation in two ways because there are two types of investors. the first type of investors are those having fixed income and the other type having variable income. investors with fixed income are those who earn income at a fixed rate as interest for providing their capital for investment. such a investors are not affected by the profit or loss in th business. in such situation excessive increase in the price of the goods will decrease the purchasing power. contrary to this, investors having variable income will benefit from inflation because they share the profits and losses of the industry,if profit is resulted, then their profit will also increase proportionally. since level of profit is more during the time of inflation , the income of the investors will also be more because they will get their shares.
(6) farmers: normally, price of the goods is more than the cost of production during the time of inflation. for this reason the farmers are also benefited. but Small farmers won't be able to share this benefit. small farmers normally don't produce goods for selling in the markets. as a result, they will have to purchase some goods for consumption.
2. non-economic effects of inflation
due to excessive increase in demand during the time of inflation, the production and employment also increase. this will benefit the debtors, producers and business communities. but, this does not mean that the effects of inflation are always good. inflation harms the consumers, investors and creditors . as a result inflation also has various non-economic effects.
" non -economic effects" means crisis in social, political and moral sectors. corruption, black market, bribery, etc. are resulted due to inflation. the government. so, the effect of inflation is economically unsound, politically dangerous and socially as well as morally disastrous. non-economic effects of inflation can be explained as follows:
(1) social effects : inflation has various effects in the society. inflation makes rich people even richer and poor people even poorer. as a result of this , conflict starts between the rich class and the poor class.
(2) moral effects : inflation negatively affects the morality of people. as a result of this, black market, bribery and corruption will increase in the society. this will provide protection to the speculation activities. with the objective of earning more profits businessmen will mix goods with inferior goods which will even reduce the quality of goods.
(3) political effects: inflation not only has economic, social and moral effects but it also has political effect. during the time of inflation, people will be dissatisfied with the government. as a result, unhealthy competition will start in politics. opposition parties try to become ruling body by heavily criticizing the government and turning the people against the government. they try all means to remove the ruling government. the inflation of 1920 in Germany made Hitler a dictator
1. economic effects
2. non-economic effects
1. economic effects of inflation
economy is deeply affected by inflation. the economic effects of inflation can be divided into two parts. they are:
i. effects on production
creeping inflation has positive effect in the economy because in the beginning the increase n price is very small. in such situation, due to small increase in the cost of production, the profit also increases by a small scale. this affects the economy positively. when hyper inflation occurs in the economy, then due to uncertainly there will be negative effect in production. therefore, hyper inflation is harmful to the economy. the negative effects on production can explained as follows:
(1) disrupts in price system: inflation will disrupt the price system which will increase slowly. as a result if this the factors won't be mobilized properly.
(2) discourage to foreign capital: inflation not only decrease the saving of domestic capital, it also result in the devaluation of money . as a result, there won't be profit for the foreign investors and this will discourage the foreign capital investment.
(3) reduction in capital accumulation: inflation badly affects saving and capital formation because high price needs to be paid for the goods when price increase. as a result there won't be any saving and sources of investment will be closed.
(4) encourages hoarding: when prices increase people will increase the stock to create artificial scarcity in order to earn more profits. from this , the businessmen specially the black marketers will make excessive profits. due to fear of further increase in price people will start hoarding more goods and this will increase the price even more.
(5) encouragement to speculation activities: inflation encourages speculation activities withe further increase in prices. businessmen instead of producing proper goods for earning profits, shift to easy and fast profit making activities.
(6) reduction in the volume of production: inflation reduces the volume if production in two ways. firstly, there won't be any capital formation due to lack of saving. secondly, due to uncertainty in the business, the producers are not ready to bear risks. therefore, there will reduction in the volume of production.
(7) effects on the pattern of production: hyper inflation brings about the change in the pattern of production. due to inflation, income of some people will increase comprehensively while income of some other people will decrease. people with increased income will demand for luxury goods in greater quantity. therefore, production of luxury goods will increase and the production of necessary goods will decrease.
(8) decrease in quality: in the state of inflation, the inflation of the sellers in the market will increase. as a result, to earn more profit, they will reduce the quality of the goods.
ii.effects on distribution of wealth
inflation badly affects on the distribution of wealth. when price increases in the economy, some class ofthe society will benefit and some class will face loss. in any society, there will be two classes of people. one having constant income and the other having variable income. if the inflation prevails for a long period then businessmen, industrialists and rich people will become even richer while the poor class and people with fixed income ( servicemen, teachers, people dependent on pension and some kind of rent) will become poorer facing even worse situations. so, effects of inflation on different people of the society are as follows:
(1) debtor and creditor: when price increases, the debtor will benefit and the creditor will suffer loss. when price increases, then the value of money will decrease. the money returned by the debtor will be able to purchase less quantity of goods and services than before. what is clear from this is that, the value of money is more at the time if taking loan and the value of money is less at the time of returning the loan. therefore, debtor will have some sort of benefit and the creditor will have some loss during the time of inflation.
(2) wage and salary earners
daily wage earners and salary earners are affected more by inflation. there are mainly two reasons for this. firstly wage and salary do not increase in proportion to the increase in price. secondly, the gap between the increase in price and the increase in wage and salary will become even wider. in such a situation, labors and servicemen not associated with labor union will be affected more. that is . they will suffer more loss.
(3) fixed income earner group: people dependent on fixed income, such as pension, house- rent and previous saving will be affected by inflation. thus is, inflation will harm the people having fixed income. but people having variable income, such as, industrialists, businessmen and share-holders will benefit from inflation . the income of such people will increase during the time of inflation.
(4) business community: all types of business communities, such as producers businessmen, entrepreneurs, speculation group etc, earn profit deuing the time of inflation. to earn more profit in short period. they will increase the price of goods more than the increase in the cost of production of such goods. similarly , since the value of the assets of such people increase such communities will be in profit.
(5) investors: investors are affected by inflation in two ways because there are two types of investors. the first type of investors are those having fixed income and the other type having variable income. investors with fixed income are those who earn income at a fixed rate as interest for providing their capital for investment. such a investors are not affected by the profit or loss in th business. in such situation excessive increase in the price of the goods will decrease the purchasing power. contrary to this, investors having variable income will benefit from inflation because they share the profits and losses of the industry,if profit is resulted, then their profit will also increase proportionally. since level of profit is more during the time of inflation , the income of the investors will also be more because they will get their shares.
(6) farmers: normally, price of the goods is more than the cost of production during the time of inflation. for this reason the farmers are also benefited. but Small farmers won't be able to share this benefit. small farmers normally don't produce goods for selling in the markets. as a result, they will have to purchase some goods for consumption.
2. non-economic effects of inflation
due to excessive increase in demand during the time of inflation, the production and employment also increase. this will benefit the debtors, producers and business communities. but, this does not mean that the effects of inflation are always good. inflation harms the consumers, investors and creditors . as a result inflation also has various non-economic effects.
" non -economic effects" means crisis in social, political and moral sectors. corruption, black market, bribery, etc. are resulted due to inflation. the government. so, the effect of inflation is economically unsound, politically dangerous and socially as well as morally disastrous. non-economic effects of inflation can be explained as follows:
(1) social effects : inflation has various effects in the society. inflation makes rich people even richer and poor people even poorer. as a result of this , conflict starts between the rich class and the poor class.
(2) moral effects : inflation negatively affects the morality of people. as a result of this, black market, bribery and corruption will increase in the society. this will provide protection to the speculation activities. with the objective of earning more profits businessmen will mix goods with inferior goods which will even reduce the quality of goods.
(3) political effects: inflation not only has economic, social and moral effects but it also has political effect. during the time of inflation, people will be dissatisfied with the government. as a result, unhealthy competition will start in politics. opposition parties try to become ruling body by heavily criticizing the government and turning the people against the government. they try all means to remove the ruling government. the inflation of 1920 in Germany made Hitler a dictator
Very well explained. All the necessary factors are addressed adequately.
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