Hawtrey blamed inflation on excessive spending by the lower ranks

Evidence

Despite its technical jargon, the message of the Hawtreyan model was actually quite simple: infl ation was the main threat to the market economy, and the causes of infl ation fundamentally rested in exaggerated spending on the part of the general population— especially its lower ranks. Indeed, the “unruly” nature of credit and its tendency to expand excessively was fundamentally based on the unruly behavior of the majority of citizens who undertook “unproductive” consumption. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 877

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the intellectual genealogy of blaming inflation on ordinary workers’ consumption — a thread from Hawtrey to modern ‘wage-price spiral’ rhetoric.
• XREF: connects to: Budget cuts under Hawtrey’s logic functioned to reduce working-class disposable income — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 756; Economists blamed working-class morality for postwar inflation. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 13; Economists have blamed workers for inflation for over a century — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 15 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Economists blamed working-class morality for postwar inflation. #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 13
• Economists have blamed workers for inflation for over a century #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 15
• Monetary inflation was cast as merely a symptom of governmental and worker misbehavior #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 783
• Austerity treats citizens’ consumption as the cause of inflation to justify repressing demand #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 349