“Defining Economic Terms” is a brief letter to the editor of The Times, published on September 12, 1977, and republished in the supplied 2022 version. Hayek intervenes in a newspaper discussion of “reflation,” responding to Lady Wootton’s request for clarification and to the term’s renewed appearance on the front page. His purpose is to expose what he regards as a euphemism in contemporary economic debate.
In the present circumstances ‘reflation’ does and can mean only one thing which those who call for it do not dare to describe by its proper name, viz., accelerating the inflation.
The decisive qualification is “In the present circumstances”: Hayek offers a judgment about the policy being advocated, rather than a general definition covering every possible use of “reflation.” Nevertheless, “does and can mean only one thing” makes that judgment categorical. He recasts a term suggesting restoration as a proposal to accelerate an inflation already under way.
The letter moves directly from a demand for plain meaning to an accusation of rhetorical concealment. Advocates, Hayek claims, avoid the policy’s “proper name”; economic terminology thus becomes a question of public candour. Its relevance lies in this compact challenge to the framing of policy choices. Hayek supplies no account of the mechanisms or evidence behind his diagnosis, so the passage supports a forceful terminological intervention, not an extended theory of inflation.
This work was divided into 1 sections when it entered the library's research corpus—an apparatus for search and citation, not necessarily the author's own table of contents. Each title opens its summary.
Put a question to this work; the Librarian answers from its 1 sections and cites the passage.
Ask the Librarian