While I definitely agree that those 2 non-conventional monetary policies in D4 are badly designed, I think more inflation links need further consideration.
- Minimum Wage: I do expect higher inflation in the end but it can have other effects depending on how it boosts inflation. For wage-push inflation, minimum wage will have an impact, which already exists as an effect of it (minimum wage - wages). If you meant demand pull inflation from increased disposable income of low-income workers, it will have short-term stimulus effects too.
- Welfare: It is true that expansionary fiscal policies boost inflation but you should consider other factors. First, if a player decides to fund them through taxation, there won’t be any stimulus effect and thus can’t expect inflation to rise. Secondly, even if these programs are not backed by taxes, they won’t just affect inflation alone. Big spendings are stimulus in short term, whose effects will get eroded over time by inflation though.
- Vouchers: I don’t think they will reduce inflation because people will effectively have more disposable income in the end. For example, food stamps will let people spend stamps instead of cash, allowing them to spend that cash elsewhere. They are not that different from other welfare payments except for A) recipients will spend them to specific goods or services and B) they will disappear if recipients don’t use, which isn’t likely to happen.
I personally think inflation can become more important & impactful with proper improvements. I’ve recently made a mod called Cost of Living, which tries to simulate possible downsides of high wages & inflation. With this mod, higher inflation does erode GDP in the long run by boosting wages even further and thus hurting productivity.
However, it still lacks control on inflation. I wanted to add stimulus effect (GDP boost and inflation push, resulting zero boost in a long run) but there were some technical limitations. It would be nice if fiscal deficit/surplus were an accessible simulation.
Further Reading: Mod Idea - Cost of Living (& Urban Density)