J.K Rowling covered the narrative of the second rise and fall of Lord Voldemort. It is a story that focuses on a few key individuals, and on their courage, hope and the power of love. However, it is impossible to understand the events surrounding the rise of Lord Voldemort without understanding the greater political, economic and social context. The wizarding world faced massive hyperinflation during the 1990s. The Ministry of Magic consistently exerts pressure on Gringotts to depreciate the currency to cover a massive structural budget deficit. The Ministry of Magic’s corruption made it impossible to control spending, and the power of a narrow clique of wealthy pureblood taxes impossible to collect revenue. Yet at the same time, the same wizarding elite (who generally lacked even the most basic understanding of economics) that was most hurt by this economic crisis. Prominent muggles had the ability to store some of their wealth in investments in the muggle world, something that pureblood wizards could not do. The pureblood elite had been seeing a loss of status since the fall of Grindelwald. Nobby Leach had been elected as the first muggle born Minister of Magic, and there was a growing movement for squib rights and social justic in general. The rise of Lord Voldemort must be understood as part of a conservative backlash against the losing social and economic power of the pureblood elite, and broken Wizarding political system that could do little to stop his rise.

http://media.blubrry.com/wealthofnationspodcast/s/content.blubrry.com/wealthofnationspodcast/wizarding_world_-_hyperinflation_corruption_and_conflict.mp3