Like Turkmenistan and Zimbabwe, wherever property rights are unpredictable, we can assume that we have a command economy.…
The Strange World of Venezuelan Hyperinflation
Because of hyperinflation, Venezuela needs billions of bank notes so that businesses and consumers can pay the insane prices that rise daily.…
Why We Need Trophy Hunting
Expensive trophy hunting packages demonstrate how the price system gives a value to animals that helps to preserve them.…
Where to Spend 100 Trillion (Zimbabwe) Dollars
Coping with hyperinflation, Zimbabwe finally had to replace their currency with the US. dollar. A low inflation rate should be their monetary policy goal.…
Expanding How We Measure Inflation
Our CPI measure of the inflation rate has been debated because it could be calculated using a chained CPU, could be real time, and excludes some seniors.…
Coin Matters
Hearing that Zimbabweans had a limited supply of coins, I recalled one person’s response to Starbucks’ price hike to $2.01 for a tall coffee in NYC: “I can’t believe it. Now I need to walk…
Laundering Zimbabwean money
In Zimbabwe, people are laundering money. Literally. When their U.S. dollars look too gray and faded, Zimbabweans wash and dry them. In this Wall Street Journal photo, dollar bills, shirts and sheets …
89.7 Sextillion Percent Inflation
Imagine a country where supermarket employees have to raise their prices several times a day, maybe by placing one price sticker on top of the old one. Describing Brazilian inflation during the early …
A Price Story
Do you think that the BPP is more accurate than the CPI? Based at MIT, The Billion Prices Project (BPP) monitors close to 5 million items sold by approximately 300 retailers in 70 countries. Using the…
Wheelbarrows of Money
If your country’s currency is hyperinflating, then how do you buy bread? You can find a wheelbarrow or use another currency. During February, 2007, with an inflation rate exceeding 50% per month…