Comment by kr1m
9 hours ago
> Fun fact: it was not hyperinflation in Weimar Germany that led Hitler to power but _deflation_ because of its insistence on sticking to the gold standard.
Do you have a source for this? AFAIK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_the_Weimar_R...
Hyperinflation in weimar Germany ended by what, 1924-ish with a return to gold standard? Hitler came to power 8+ years later
"Hyperinflation caused Hitler" is one of the common narratives that "everyone knows". But German economy was actually growing during the hyperinflation era and by the time of Hitler's ascension, the hyperinflation had long been in the past.
I personally edited this very Wikipedia article several times, but my changes got reverted by goldbugs who want to memory-hole it.
This article has a nice explanation: https://www.hertie-school.org/fileadmin/user_upload/20191101...
If you don't believe the numbers from it, they can be corroborated easily.
Thanks for sharing. I can corroborate some of the unemployment numbers in Lords of Finance and have no doubt there was some deflation. I do think the seeds of the Third Reich were sown well before this period mostly due to the insistence of France wanting full reparations and Germany borrowing in foreign currencies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Finance
Hyperinflation undoubtedly left a huge psychological scar, especially because it happened right after the loss in WWI. But it did not cause a long protracted unemployment period that directly resulted in mass disgruntlement.
And most importantly, the deflation was directly caused by Germany's insistence on staying on the gold standard. And this has been an almost ironclad law: large countries that insist on gold standard end up with stagnating economy.
If you want another interesting tale from the opposite side of the spectrum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%B6rgl#The_W%C3%B6rgl_Expe... - it's a town that was issuing "decaying" money in 1930-s and this helped to revitalize its economy.
Another example often cited by Paul Krugman was Washington's childcare coöp, but it's a bit too small-scale.