Hedging against inflation refers to an owner's effort to ________.

Hedging against inflation is primarily about reducing the adverse effects that rising prices can have on the value of investments. When inflation occurs, purchasing power decreases, meaning that the real value of money diminishes over time. By hedging against inflation, an owner seeks to ensure that their investment portfolio maintains its value or even grows in real terms despite the inflationary pressures.

This often involves strategies such as investing in real assets like real estate or commodities that tend to appreciate when inflation rises, or incorporating financial instruments designed to offset inflation's impact. Such measures help to safeguard the owner's investment returns from being eroded by inflation, thereby preserving the purchasing power connected to those investments.

In contrast, the other options focus on different aspects of financial management, such as currency protection, capital gains, or company structure, which do not directly relate to the specific aim of combating inflation's effects on investment portfolios.