Hyperinflation as a catalyst for transformation? 

Nathan Marcus (Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva) & Carmen Hofmann (eabh) discuss the extreme acceleration of inflation and its consequences at the end of the Austro- Hungarian Empire in 1918. The transition from a single economic space in Central Europe into separate national economies was marred by the experience of hyperinflation. Nathan explains why hyperinflation is so bad, why it is explicitly a modern phenomenon and how it intrinsically connects the financial with the political sphere.