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If this is the degree of inflation planned for in advance, the real outcome is indeed likely to be such that most of those who will retire at the end of the century will be dependent on the charity of the younger generation. And ultimately not morals but the fact that the young supply the police and the army will decide the issue: concentration camps for the aged unable to maintain themselves are likely to be the fate of an old generation whose income is entirely dependent on coercing the young.

Friedrich Hayek#63

Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

CoercionInflationStateDemographics

About this quote

What does it mean?
Hayek warns inflation could force the elderly to depend on the young, leading to coercive state measures.
In plain terms
High inflation may make old people rely on the young, causing the state to force young people to support them.
What can you take from it?
Inflation can lead to coercive intergenerational dependence.

Where it applies

  • pension reform
  • economic crisis
  • policy planning

Putting it to work

  • reform pensions
  • control inflation

Questions to consider

  • How should societies care for the old?
  • What are the limits of redistribution?

Another view

Some argue intergenerational solidarity is ethical.

More from Friedrich Hayek

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  3. The chief evil is unlimited government, and nobody is qualified to wield unlimited power.

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