> Inflation punishes the lower classes disproportionately for the same reasons. It is the primary driver of income inequality in the world.
If that was true, then economies that use gold and silver as currency, and where there isn't a large supply of new money, there wouldn't be much income inequality. But there was plenty of income inequality in ancient Rome, and in most ancient despotisms. So I suspect your hypothesis is wrong.
"The problem of debasement in the Roman economy appears to be pervasive, although the severity of the debasement often paralleled the strength or weakness of the Empire."
Political authoritarianism, corruption, direct taxation, seizure, and military plunder are also effective ways for a ruling class to steal from the rest, so you can certainly have terrible inequality in societies with sound currency, but inflation is the most efficient and covert method, and has been the most popular way for governments and their corporate allies to gain at the expense of the world's poor and middle class in the last 100 years.
If that was true, then economies that use gold and silver as currency, and where there isn't a large supply of new money, there wouldn't be much income inequality. But there was plenty of income inequality in ancient Rome, and in most ancient despotisms. So I suspect your hypothesis is wrong.