"In a monetary deflation or credit contraction this way [inflation] to finance government debt and government expenditures is disturbed. Due to the monetary deflation prices of government bonds tend to fall. Moreover, price deflation increases the real burden of debt and leads to a redistribution from creditors to debtors as was explained above. This has an important effect as historically the biggest debtor in an economy has been the state. The real burden of government debt increases and a higher percentage of government revenue must be spent on debt payments. This means that the government, if it is not to increase unpopular taxes, has to reduce is spending on other ends. It will, thus, centralize fewer functions than in times of inflation and give more freedom to private citizens. The welfare state must be reduced. This also has an implication for the institution of the family, as the welfare state has usurped many traditional functions of the family, like care and assistance for the elderly, help in emergency situations, help during unemployment and illness, etc. To the extent that the state occupies these functions, families started to lose some of their traditional meanings. Reducing the size of the welfare state might result in a reversal of this trend." - Philipp Bagus, ***In Defense of Deflation*** (2015) p. 92
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