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Comment by jldugger | Hacker News Reader

I suspect the problem is creating only a little bit of inflation. Hyperinflation is easy, just ask the Weimar republic.

Or Zimbabwe or Argentina even ... but I think these extremes are absurd. They are blunders. What we are talking about here is why EU isn’t taking prudent steps to provoke growth, and that’s all down to keeping certain dominant nationa happy.

* Cries in pesos

The reason they managed to create hyperinflation is because when you print more currency, inflation doesn't immediately change in reaction.
So they ended up printing more and more till, it all corrected at once and hyperinflation was already here before they could roll back their currency printing machines.
They took a practical approach to managing inflation yet paying off debt obligations with more currency but didn't realize it all could backfire - they didn't do something as stupid as others will have you believe.

what simple mistake did the weimar republic do that caused a hyperinflation? I thought it was primarily caused by a massive reduction in the supply of goods following the versaille treaty without a corresponding reduction in monetary supply. At that point there really wasn't a lot the government could do to stop it.
Zimbabwe faced similar problems after disowning their most productive agricultural providers, reducing supply.

Mostly because of the world war they waged, they created bonds and then printed more and more currency to pay it off, creating hyperinflation.

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