How can we account for inflation when we say market cap increased by $xB? How can we differentiate an actual increase in value as opposed to currency debasement?
You measure it as beta against something broad like the total market or the S&P500.
If the currency gets debased and money flows into the market wouldn’t it also just debase the S&P500 equally?
It would debase the S&P500 equally, so any difference between Google's performance and S&P500 performance is clearly caused by something else then inflation/debasement/etc.