Talk:Hyperinflation/Archive 2

How to peg the Argentinian Peso to the US Dollar
Why is it possible to do this? Mustn't these two quite seperate currencies inflate seperately, or is it possible for two seperate economies to shared such things, as is happening today in Europe with the introduction of a european currency common to all members? As East Germany merged with West Germany, the two governments to trade their currencies at a rate of 1 governments to trade their currencies at a rate of 1:1. WELL, this led to some troubles in Germany, such as mass unemployment etc, but why would the US agree to such a deal, seeing as it has already a very strong economy? Wilsonsamm (talk) 05:23, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Correct brazilian currency name
Brazil had currencies called "Real" twice. "Réis", as stated in the article, refers to the first "Real", that was used from the empire years until 1942. The correct plural for the current currency is "Reais". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.179.21.150 (talk) 16:49, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Yugoslavia 1993-94
The paragraph:


 * 1) More recently, Yugoslavia suffered 5 × 1015 percent inflation per month (prices double every 16 hours) between 1 October 1993 and 24 January 1994.

cannot be true. I admit that there could be peaks of such a high hyperinflation, with prices doubling every 16 hours, or even less. But it is impossible to have this effect during such a long time period. There were 116 days, i.e., 2784 hours or 174 doubling periods. This would mean an increase of prices by a factor 1052. How much 500b dinar notes would be needed to pay something that cost 1 dinar at the beginning of that period? The answer is 1040. There is not enough paper in the world. (the YUO was used most of the period, and it was not until 1 Jan 1994 that it was revaluaed to the YUG at a 1 million factor, but again, it is 1032 500 billion YUG notes to pay what it was 1 YUO on 1 Oct 1993, in other words, plainly impossible).

In conclusion, the statement is obviously incorrect. I propose to just cite the rate, not the time interval, as in the other examples. In any of these extreme cases one assumes that these values correspond to peak hyperinflations that can last as much as several days or even several weeks, but not more. The rest of the period may still be under extreme hyperinflation, even having dozens of doubling intervals, but not 174. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Oriolpont (talk • contribs) 19:05, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, neither figure makes sense (see the end of ). The figure of 5 × 1015 percent inflation per month gives the same answer (well more or less, I haven't bother to calculate it) as the price doubling. However I worked out the problem, someone accidentally I presume, converted the original figure of 5 × 1015 over that period to 5 × 1015 per month over that period. I've fixed it Nil Einne (talk) 13:17, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
 * It's still not fixed. The calculation of "prices double every 16 hours" is equivalent to 5 × 1015% per month. Leaving the inflation rate stated as "5 × 1015 percent inflation" is meaningless without a specified time period. As a monthly inflation rate, that works out to about 2.4 × 10166% per year. On the flip side, if the cumulative inflation is 5 × 1015% over the period from 1993-10-01 to 1994-01-24, that is doubling on average about every 2.5 days. It works out to an annualized inflation rate of about 1.3 × 1045%, or an average monthly rate of about 350,000%. (I think I did those calc's correctly.) Lincmad (talk) 06:45, 26 July 2008 (UTC)
 * As far as I can tell, the inflation is "5 × 1015 percent inflation over the specified time period (i.e. 1993-10-01 to 1994-01-24 or ~ 115 days). I have no idea why someone reinserted the 16 hours thing even though I clearly specified in my hidden comment what was intended, this wasn't in the version I'm referring to Nil Einne (talk) 12:58, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I see now it was re-added by an anon Nil Einne (talk) 13:06, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I've edited the article accordingly . If anyone has any further suggestions as to how to word the article so that people don't confuse an inflation rate of 5 × 1015 percent over a nearly 4 month period with a monthly inflation rate over that period and keep re-adding the incorrect claim of price doubling every 16 hours it would be most welcome if you make them or edit the article directly. Nil Einne (talk) 13:13, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't Look Right
"n 1956, Phillip Cagan wrote "The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation"[1], generally regarded as the first serious study of hyperinflation and its effects. In it he defined hyperinflation as a monthly inflation rate of at least 50% (prices doubling every 31 days)."

Doesn't doubling in a month mean 100% inflation per month? GeneCallahan (talk) 20:21, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

The language is difficult. In addition, the source is unverified. Jonahtrainer (talk) 05:09, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Currency collapse needs article?
Considering this is at least an often used colloquial phrase, does it deserve own article or to be integrated somehow into this article, the deflation, biflation, denomination articles or some where? Obviously there are a number of ways currencies can become worthless which equal collapse. And a lot of people who may not know the correct terminology might come here and type that phrase in. Carol Moore 03:11, 14 April 2008 (UTC)Carolmooredc {talk}

I think it needs its own page. Hyperinflation and a currency collapse are similar and each have their own useage in language. I imagine a lot of people type search for currency collapse and they are not properly educated because there is no article. Jonahtrainer (talk) 21:32, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Please remove doubling of section "Examples of hyperinflation"
This section appears twice in the article. It is an obvious edit mistake. I do not want to make the edit myself as it is a big and technical article and I would rather some of the authors in the WikiProject should undertake this. Tuesday, January 27, 2009, Iani (talk) 16:24, 27 January 2009 (UTC).

Final exchange rate for pengö/forint
The article states that the forint was introduced at a rate of 4×10^29 pengo, i.e. 400 octillion. However the Encyclopedia Britannica states that the rate was in fact 400 quintillion (4x10^21). Can someone provide a reliable source for the 4x10^29 figure ? If not, I'll change it to the figure provided by the EB. Passportguy (talk) 12:47, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

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Hyperinflation in Brazil
About Brazil, the article isn't good.The article writes:"

Brazil From 1986 to 1994, the base currency unit was shifted three times to adjust for inflation in the final years of the Brazilian military dictatorship era. A 1967 cruzeiro was, in 1994, worth less than one trillionth of a US cent, after adjusting for multiple devaluations and note changes. A new currency called real was adopted in 1994, and hyperinflation was eventually brought under control. The real was also the currency in use until 1942; 1 (current) real is the equivalent of 2,750,000,000,000,000,000 of those old reals (called réis in Portuguese).[13] " In fact, between 1986 and 1994, Brazil had six, not three base currencies:Cruzeiro, Cruzado, Cruzado Novo, Cruzeiro, Cruzeiro Real and Real.All of these exchanges in currency were did after the end of military governments in Brazil.Hight inflation, but there was real hyperiflation in Brazil, only during the last months in government of José Sarney, between 1989 and 1990. Agre22 (talk) 20:08, 7 March 2009 (UTC)agre22

converting inflation rates
I just changed the Zimbabwe example to comparable to the Hungarian example -- this shows that (at the cited time) Zimbabwean inflation wasn't even close to the Hungarian one. For the record, if anyone wants to convert inflation rates (monthly, annual, etc.):

ar = annual inflation rate (%) af = annual inflation factor = (ar + 100) / 100 mf = monthly inflation factor = af ** (1/12) = 12th root of af mr = monthly inflation rate = mf * 100 - 100 hl = currency half-life in hours = (365 * 24) / (log(af) / log(2))

It might be worth bringing the Zimbabwe numbers up-to-date. Perhaps by now, it's approached Hungarian dimensions?

160.45.40.118 (talk) 08:30, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

A general misunderstanding of the cause of hyperinflation
I think there is a general misunderstanding here, with constant references to "money" or "the money supply". In fact, hyperinflation is caused by an excessive increase in credit and the printing presses generally are unable to keep up with the demand for paper money.

Erich Maria Remarque in his book: (1956) Der schwarze Obelisk; English translation: The Black Obelisk (1957) gave the best example of how the the 1923 German inflation was engineered.

A wholesaler might have 500,000 marks worth of shoes, he sells them for 1,000,000 marks to a retailer. But the retailer doesn't have to pay now, he signs a note promising to pay in 30 days. With inflation over 100% a month, a good deal for him. And the wholesaler?

He goes to the German central bank that same day and is given 95% of the face value of the note That day. A very good deal for him also.

Hyperinflation ended abruptly in Germany when the government closed this "discount window" and made a minor change in how foreign currency exchanges were done. Jimmyreno (talk) 22:17, 11 September 2009 (UTC)jimmyreno

HYPERINFLATIONARY PROCESS
A brief outline of a generic hyperinflationary process is the following:
 * 1. BOOM: markets rise leading to asset bubbles, rising consumer prices.
 * 2. BUST: markets crash, inflation goes -ive, Central Banks react: rate cuts, monetary expansion
 * 3. BOND BOOM: Govt debt balloons, debt issues soar.
 * 4. STABILIZATION: Stocks, comodities, asset prices recover, bonds stabilize, volatility declines

Up to this point a typical business cycle (1-4-1), however if the debt bubble or monetary inflation by central banks is excessive it can lead to: [unsigned/undated]]
 * 5. BOND BUST: inflation goes +ive, bond buyers pull out. Central Banks step in buying bonds (QE), gradually crowd out, scare off market buyers while attempting to keep yields low.
 * 6. CURRENCY CRISIS: money flees inflated currency, first a trickle, then accelerates.
 * 7. INFLATION ROARS: QE, currency weakness push prices, inflation accelerates, commodities rise, inflation reaches pre-BUST highs, FMS..
 * 8. POINT OF NO RETURN: central banks slow to contract money supply, govt spending, deficits keep growing. Real economy (production) still stagnant... prices spiral.
 * 9. CURRENCY DESTRUCTION: double digit inflation, currency devaluation, bond mkt crash... inflation goes logarithmic... confidence in money is destroyed... eventually even monetary contraction will not help as demand for cash evaporates.