But this success was not the primary source of inflation: “the rise of wages in Germany . . . has not been due to coercion by unions, but to the favourable business conditions. . . . Therefore it is more accurate to say that an inflationary situation caused this marked rise of wages than to say that the rise of wages caused an inflationary situation” (Ilau 1958, 3; emphasis mine). Ilau prognosticated that the first cause of an inflationary situation lay in a phenomenon of “imported inflation,” which was a consequence of a too-low German exchange rate. “Therefore I think that monetary policy is a far more important factor for the value of money than labor-relations legislation” (Ilau 1958, 3).

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 976