Episode 23 – Monetary Revolutions (Podcast)

What effects did world events, such as world wars and depression, have on the economies of nations such as Germany, and the former Soviet Union? As hyperinflation raged, the real value of currency in these nations became a question mark. Countries today are still ravaged with the same problem. As revolutions erupt and regimes change, the effect on purchasing power is hard to ignore. How can the problems of “out of control” inflation be solved? As Milton Friedman describes the issue, “Country after country has seen its monetary system blow up in its face, and subsequently, it’s had to do …

What effects did world events, such as world wars and depression, have on the economies of nations such as Germany, and the former Soviet Union? As hyperinflation raged, the real value of currency in these nations became a question mark. Countries today are still ravaged with the same problem. As revolutions erupt and regimes change, the effect on purchasing power is hard to ignore. How can the problems of “out of control” inflation be solved?

As Milton Friedman describes the issue, “Country after country has seen its monetary system blow up in its face, and subsequently, it’s had to do something about it. And we’ve had a kind of revolution. Now, right now, this is a very interesting subject because of the problems of the other kind of revolutions that have been taking place… in Eastern European countries. Where all of a sudden a communist system which has lasted, in Russia’s case, for seventy years, in these other countries for forty years, has blown up in their faces. They had a monetary system which was part of their whole centrally planned, centrally designed system. And now they are desperately seeking what to do about that monetary system.”

Join Milton, along with Daniel Gressel, to dig into this problem in detail during this episode of the Free To Choose Media Podcast, Monetary Revolutions.