Hyperinflation in Germany 1919-1923

  • 13 years ago
Watch all the videos at http://www.goldmoney.com/money-history. Marion Mueller (AEMP), in collaboration with the GoldMoney Foundation, visits the Bundesbank's Geldmuseum (Money Museum) in Frankfurt and explains Germany's post-WWI currency collapse and hyperinflation. She explains how Germany abandoned the gold standard to fight World War I and how the huge debt incurred and the large amounts of money printed lead to an inflationary spiral of disastrous consequences. Hyperinflation wipes out savings and thus destroys the middle class, leading to political radicalisation and social unrest.

Inflation was originally defined as an increase in the money supply. Today most textbooks define inflation as "a general rise in the price level", however sound economists, remind us that rising prices are just a symptom and effect of inflation and that it is a mistake to focus on vague and changing "baskets" of goods as a good measure for inflation, when the amount of currency debasement is what really matters.