I know that there are complicated economic theories about what determines inflation and wealth and such, and that particularly capitalists love claiming that it's a really complex system, but every time I've looked into that supposed complexity, almost all of it was just proxy metrics for something really simple.

So... is inflation actually influenced by anything *other than* the relation between 'amount of money in the economy' and 'change in wealth inequality'? Or is it just all smoke and mirrors again?

(Please do not repeat economics textbooks at me, I'm looking for a well-reasoned answer that approaches the topic critically, not "everybody knows that..." type answers)