Yacob's view of money as a facilitator of human exchange rather than a value in itself reframes inflation from a monetary crisis to a breakdown in social trust.
Zera Yacob understood money functionally—as a medium enabling fair exchange and cooperation among reasonable beings. Inflation reveals money's vulnerability: when prices rise unpredictably, money fails its primary role as a reliable measure of value. This makes inflation not merely an economic phenomenon but a social one. Yacob's framework suggests that inflation often signals a deeper breakdown: either in productive capacity (real shortages), in governance (reckless monetary creation), or in trust (hoarding and speculation). His perspective resists treating money as intrinsically valuable or as an object of mastery. Instead, inflation becomes a symptom of a society where money has been corrupted from its rational purpose. Living with inflation through Yacob's lens means restoring money's role as servant of human cooperation: demanding central bank transparency, supporting productive investment over speculation, and recognizing that stable prices are a prerequisite for dignified economic participation. Money should serve human reason and justice, never the reverse.
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