Principles of Macroeconomics / Unit 6 MAC 0519 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Hyperinflation
Captions available
The idea
Hyperinflation is inflation running out of control, and it has one usual cause: a government paying its bills by creating money.
In practice
Money can lose value by the day, so people spend it the moment they receive it.
Where people slip
The usual sequence follows: price controls, then shortages, then black markets, and finally the currency is abandoned for a foreign one.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for Principles of Macroeconomics