Episode 66: Hyperinflation - the worst cases in history

The conventional marker for hyperinflation is 50% per month, first proposed in 1956 by Phillip Cagan, a professor of economics at Columbia University. Hyperinflation is the rapid, massive, and unmanageable increase in prices. In recent times, the worst cases of hyperinflation in history are Hungary from 1945 to 1946, Zimbabwe from 2007 to 2008 and Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1994. In all the three cases, the decline in the value of the existing currency was massive enough to replace it with a new currency. This episode looks into each of the above cases, their origins and how the hyperinflation was finally controlled.