Link is hated among Hylian elite for many reasons. Of course, in "A Link to the Past" we find him actually wanted by Hylian authorities for reportedly abducting Princess Zelda. However, the internet world has brought to our attention other crimes that Link has perpetrated against the good people of Hyrule here and here. Were the player a regular Hyrule citizen, and not someone possessing privileged information about the evil deeds of Ganon and the poor plight of the princess, it would be clear that this "Link" character is a man of ill repute and is an outlaw and a ne'er-do-well. However, the player does have privilege information, so we might forgive Link's deviant behavior for saving the world.
However, there is a real problem that Link's actions, though not directly his fault has caused. He is single-handedly wreaking havoc on Hyrule's economics. Let me explain:
As anyone who has played any Zelda game is aware, the primary currency of the Kingdom of Hyrule (as well as Termina and other kingdoms in the surrounding area) is the Rupee. While the games never quite explain what rupees are, they seem to be some kind of gem or gem-like coin (or something like that). Rather than having different Hylian monarchs or other historical figures on the currency (one might imagine different faces of Zelda from the original game on the NES to OoT to Twilight Princess), the different values are determined by the color alone of the rupee. Thus, a green rupee is worth one, a blue rupee is worth two, red is worth twenty, purple worth fifty, silver worth two hundred and gold is worth five hundred.
Rupees are used as any sort of currency is, Link purchases needed goods such as health potions, bombs, tunics, shields, etc. The player can invest them in the bank in Majora's Mask or attempt to make them buying and selling masks in Ocarina of Time.
However, if we assume that the rupee functions in Hylian economics the way that the dollar functions in American economics, we run into some problems. In the first place, it seems that rupees are only used to purchase goods. They are sometimes used to pay for services (such as sword sharpening in Majora's Mask), but usually not (when was the last time Link received a payment for ridding a dungeon of its hideous monster?) Mostly, rupees are used in specialty shops that sell shields, bombs, arrows and the like, or game galleries. Most other businesses do not seem to take rupees. This is peculiar because it suggests that rupees are not fully trusted by the Hylians.
However, it does seem that the Hylians' distrust is fully warranted. The player is well aware that rupees abound in Hyrule. Rupees can be found inside of many bushes, on the bottom of many streams, and underneath many rocks. In fact, the player usually finds that it is not that finding money is frustrating, but rather that the limitations placed on carrying amount are frustrating.
This leads to an interesting conundrum. If Hyrule's economy is truly dependent upon the rupee, then every time a new heroic Link shows up, the economy must end up being gravely affected. Consider the following. The player often finds rupees in bushes as he rides across the plains. The skilled player will also find many rupees in chests scattered across the kingdom and within dungeons. One must assume that the rupee is fairly strong, as shields usually only cost about 50 rupees apiece. Thus, when the player brings in literally thousands of rupees from outside of the cities, this must cause massive inflation. Since Link is finding these rupees in relatively obscure and dangerous locations, it is safe to assume that they are not in regulation. However, since the Kingdom of Hyrule is so unpopulated, and since prices are so cheap, one may safely assume that the kingdom is operating with only a few thousand rupees in regulation. The introduction, then of the possibly tens of thousands of rupees that Link comes across in his travels ought to cause high inflation rates.
The point is made most poignantly in Majora's Mask. In this game, the player is limited by the fact that his time is limited to three days, and thus he keeps going back in time to relive these three days (like Groundhog Day, Zelda style). Because some items cost large amounts of money and Link's wallet is extremely limited in the beginning, the player is able to deposit rupees in Termina's Bank. Enter Zelda's permissible fraud solution. Since it would suck to have to go back and find all of the rupees that you lost over and over again, the bank simply keeps track of how much money you have deposited and, rather than keep some kind of record, the banker makes some sort of mark on you that tells him how much money you have deposited. This mark stays with you when you go back in time, so that after you've deposited 500 rupees into the bank, when you go back to the first day, those rupees are still there. The problem is that the real money is still out in the world. There are 100 rupee treasure chests that the player can find in town and open each time he resets the clock and deposited each of these into the bank. Eventually, the player can max out at 5499 rupees, and have none of them actually in the bank. That's right, the player can fraud the bank by depositing rupees through various time travel exploits and in the end, he can have all the rupees in his wallet but still counted in the bank. The bank only limits you because they don't have any more funds. You end up destroying the economy because your "account" (read: the mark on your head, since the banker does not keep any real records) states that all the money in the bank belongs to you. Meanwhile, you are going out using the hookshot to get to the chest with the silver rupee in it, a silver rupee supposedly in the bank, on top of the game shop.
This is the kind of thing that would ruin lives normally. A man would go to the bank in Termina to find out that all of his hard earned rupees, which in reality are in the bank, supposedly belong to a 12 year old Kokiri kid. Shop owners throughout Hyrule would have to increase prices in order to combat the unforeseen influx of rupees that Link usually brings with him, all the while the common Hylians do not possess any more money than they began with. Were rupees the only method of trade in Hyrule, Link would quickly become a tycoon, especially with his ability to find large quantities of rupees and introduce them into the economy.
However, the games tell us that rupees are not the main form of trade. In fact, it seems that most often, Hylians prefer bartering to using rupees. One cannot procure land deeds with rupees (Majora's Mask), nor usually something as simple as a bottle, but one can obtain many useful items (such as the Big Goron's Sword, or heart containers) by trades and performing services for others. In fact, the Hylian rupees are limited to specialty shops, game galleries and strange types of armor (Twilight Princess), but the traditional bartering system goes so much further. Hylians trade everything from mushrooms to special milk to fish to eyeballs to masks to gold dust to ghosts. Villagers and artisans prefer to trade goods with Link for services rendered (such as finding a lost sister to finding various insects). Link never earns rupees for his work (but he does find them in his work) and he only ever is able to procure rupees through trade when it is for very specific items (such as masks or gold dust). Thus, while Link is able to utilize rupees, he is much more likely to receive some other good for his work.
So, if you plan on traveling to beautiful Hyrule anytime soon, it might be worth your time to take along your Goron's wallet with a few silver rupees in it, but keep in mind that if you want anything aside from a good time at the bombchu bowling alley, or a blue tunic, you might want to take a bottle or some magic beans with you instead--they'll probably get you further anyway.
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