Why it is not possible to print all the money we need?
The German hyperinflation of 1923 provides the answer to this question.
After the creation of a gold-unbacked mark and the defeat in the First World War, the central bank of the Weimar Republic made some fatal mistakes and lost control of the currency.
An incredible amount of paper money was issued and prices ran madly. Only people had invested in certain assets saved their money; many others people plunged into the worst poverty.
The consequences were considerable and did not end in those few months. In fact hyperinflation was decisive for the rise of Nazism and today it continues to influence the German mentality, with repercussions on European monetary policy.
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Table of contents
1. The origin of the problem (1914-1920)
– War repudiates gold
– An exorbitant compensation
2. The monetary catastrophe (1921-1923)
– 1921-22: fatal mistakes
– 1923: annus horribilis
3. The crazy rise in prices
– Out of control
– A waste paper avalanche
– Scenes from everyday life
4. Lifelines: stocks and gold
– Wrong investments
– Stocks
– Gold and silver
5. Return to normalcy
– The rentenmark
– Public and private debts
– Long-term consequences
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The author
Simone Ricci is an Italian historian and numismatist.
He was born in 1984 and, after high school, he obtained a degree in History. He has created an online catalog of French coins and has published books about French and Chinese numismatics, as well as works on Chinese and US history. He has collaborated with numismatic magazines.
