We explore the welfare costs of inflation originating from lack of liquidity satiation for Weimar Republic's hyperinflation and three high-inflation countries. Towards the peak of Weimar's hyperinflation the costs are estimated to have been equal to nearly 20 per cent of income. For Israel,...

In this essay, I argue that the explosion of inflation during the Salvador Allende administration in Chile (above 1,500% on a six-month annualized measure) was predictable. The government's use of massive and strict price controls generated acute macroeconomic imbalances. I postulate that the...

Despite the adverse effects of economic crises, incumbents often retain significant electoral support. We attribute this resilience to the intensified political returns of transfers during crises. Our context is the largest infant nutrition program in the world, implemented by Salvador Allende...

We study the long-term effects of inflation surges on inflation expectations using Germany as a laboratory. Households living in areas with higher local inflation during the hyperinflation of the 1920s expect higher inflation today, even after controlling for known determinants of historical...

Despite the adverse effects of economic crises, incumbents often retain significant electoral support. We attribute this resilience to the intensified political returns of transfers during crises. Our context is the largest infant nutrition program in the world, implemented by Salvador Allende...

Am 28. Juli 2024 finden in Venezuela Präsidentschaftswahlen statt, bei denen sich der seit 2013 regierende Staatschef Nicolás Maduro im Amt bestätigen lassen möchte. Mit María Corina Machado ist ihm eine Gegenkandidatin erwachsen, die zwar die Massen mobilisiert, aber nicht antreten darf....

We explore the welfare costs of inflation originating from lack of liquidity satiation for Weimar Republic's hyperinflation and three high-inflation countries. Towards the peak of Weimar's hyperinflation the costs are estimated to have been equal to nearly 20 per cent of income. For Israel,...

Am 28. Juli 2024 finden in Venezuela Präsidentschaftswahlen statt, bei denen sich der seit 2013 regierende Staatschef Nicolás Maduro im Amt bestätigen lassen möchte. Mit María Corina Machado ist ihm eine Gegenkandidatin erwachsen, die zwar die Massen mobilisiert, aber nicht antreten darf....

In this essay, I argue that the explosion of inflation during the Salvador Allende administration in Chile (above 1,500% on a six-month annualized measure) was predictable. The government's use of massive and strict price controls generated acute macroeconomic imbalances. I postulate that the...

Rising public debt everywhere has raised the question of how to reduce debt again in the future. High public debt also seems to be an impediment for the exit of central banks from ultra-low interest rates and quantitative easing. Historical precedents and proposals have included austerity,...

Since the global financial crisis (2008-2009), central banks and governments in developed countries have relied upon loose monetary and financial policy. In the coronavirus pandemic era, these policies were taken even more to the extreme. In 2021, countries around the world started to experience...

The notion of a nation-specific inflation trauma among the German population is ubiquitous in the public debate in Germany and beyond. Because of its experience with hyperinflation in 1923, the German population fears rising prices and favors stability-oriented monetary as well as fiscal policy....

Vor 100 Jahren mündete die Große Inflation, die bereits 1914 mit dem Ersten Weltkrieg ihren Anfang nahm, in der Hyperinflation von 1923. Bis heute herrscht in der deutschen Bevölkerung und Politik eine Inflationsaversion. Anlässlich dieses Jubiläums und der zuletzt stark gestiegenen...

The article treats the history of Germany's Great Inflation from 1914 to 1923. It focusses on explaining the turning points of wholesale price trends. It demonstrates that these were mostly triggered by national and international political decisions immediately impacting the mark exchange rate....

Germany's hyperinflation resulted from a confluence of several factors, all of which contributed to a temporary breakdown in state capacity and to unsustainable public sector deficits. Wartime debt deflated by 90% already in 1920. Informal wage indexation and failure to enforce collection of a...

The German hyperinflation in 1923 was caused by monetary financing of the highly deficient German state budget by a de-pendent central bank. The social and economic consequences of the hyperinflation were disastrous. Combined with an instable politi-cal atmosphere, paving the way for the rise of...

The Weimar hyperinflation is a textbook example of how inflation develops. All the factors usually associated with inflation were present during this period. However, besides the quantifiable factors, such as money supply development, the political factors appear dominant in retrospect. There...

Eine Kombination von hohen in- und ausländischen Schulden und einer politisch instabilen Situation verunmöglichten es der jungen Weimarer Republik die schon am Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges hohen Budgetdefizite und Staatsschulden zu reduzieren. Als Versuche misslangen, den Wechselkurs zu...

The article treats the history of Germany’s Great Inflation from 1914 to 1923. It focusses on explaining the turning points of wholesale price trends. It demonstrates that these were mostly triggered by national and international political decisions immediately impacting the mark exchange...

Germany’s hyperinflation resulted from a confluence of several factors, all of which contributed to a temporary breakdown in state capacity and to unsustainable public sector deficits. Wartime debt deflated by 90% already in 1920. Informal wage indexation and failure to enforce collection of a...

Vor 100 Jahren mündete die Große Inflation, die bereits 1914 mit dem Ersten Weltkrieg ihren Anfang nahm, in der Hyperinflation von 1923. Bis heute herrscht in der deutschen Bevölkerung und Politik eine Inflationsaversion. Anlässlich dieses Jubiläums und der zuletzt stark gestiegenen...

The German hyperinflation in 1923 was caused by monetary financing of the highly deficient German state budget by a de-pendent central bank. The social and economic consequences of the hyperinflation were disastrous. Combined with an instable politi-cal atmosphere, paving the way for the rise of...

The Weimar hyperinflation is a textbook example of how inflation develops. All the factors usually associated with inflation were present during this period. However, besides the quantifiable factors, such as money supply development, the political factors appear dominant in retrospect. There...

Purpose The purpose is to market a reinterpretation of Brazilian economic history highlighting the importance of non-tradable goods to understand major historical developments such as the lack of industrialization in the mining boom; the rise and contribution of industries to development in the...

The notion of a nation-specific inflation trauma among the German population is ubiquitous in the public debate in Germany and beyond. Because of its experience with hyperinflation in 1923, the German population fears rising prices and favors stability-oriented monetary as well as fiscal policy....

Data from 20 hyperinflations provide no evidence of a Laffer curve for seignorage: rather, the relationship between money growth and seignorage has been uniformly positive at all inflation rates. Consistent with this, evidence shows that the most plausible money demand specification for...

Unexpected inflation can redistribute wealth from creditors to debtors. In the presence of financing frictions, such redistribution can impact the allocation of real activity. We use the German inflation of 1919-1923 to study how a large inflationary shock is transmitted to the real economy via...

Eine Kombination von hohen in- und ausländischen Schulden und einer politisch instabilen Situation verunmöglichten es der jungen Weimarer Republik die schon am Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges hohen Budgetdefizite und Staatsschulden zu reduzieren. Als Versuche misslangen, den Wechselkurs zu...

We study the long-term effects of inflation surges on inflation expectations. German households living in areas with higher local inflation during the hyperinflation of the 1920s expect higher inflation today. Our evidence points towards a transmission of inflation experiences from parents to...

Inflation is painful, for firms, customers, employees, and society. But careful study of periods of hyperinflation point to ways that firms can adapt. In particular, companies need to think about how to change prices regularly and cheaply — because constant price changes can ultimately be...

Inflation is painful, for firms, customers, employees, and society. But careful study of periods of hyperinflation point to ways that firms can adapt. In particular, companies need to think about how to change prices regularly and cheaply - because constant price changes can ultimately be very,...

Following a revolution precipitated by unsustainable government deficits, an explosion of paper money called the assignat caused a rapid increase in prices not seen in Europe again until the widespread adoption of discretionary fiat standards in the 20th century. The value of the assignat...

We use a representative online survey to investigate the inflation expectations of German consumers and the credibility of the ECB’s inflation target during the recent high inflation period. We find that credibility has trended downwards since summer 2021, reaching an all-time low in April...

In recent years, many researchers have focused on the development of new probability distributions. The massive amount of data available in real life encourages the study of models which can provide more flexibility than the classical ones do. In this paper, we tackle the thorny problem related...

A difference is made between open and hidden or veiled government bankruptcies. The latter are happening if budget deficits are covered by substantial money creation leading to inflation. In this case non-indexed government debt loses its value and is inflated away. This path is not open, if the...

During Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation that ended in 2009, people turned to an illegal round-tripping transaction called “burning money” to preserve purchasing power. The transaction involved illegally acquiring foreign currency at the official rate before converting back to domestic currency in...

Sustainable Development implies slowing the rate of utilization and eventual depletion of non-renewable resources such as oil and metals. Non-renewable resources are now commonly traded, often as derivatives, through electronic trading exchanges and studies the impact of that trading on...

Outside Germany’s academic sector, there is strong support for the idea that an increase in the European Central Bank’s money supply would inevitably lead to high inflation or even hyperinflation. This essay explores the question of whether and how high inflation or hyperinflation could rise...