Weimar Republic: Hyper Inflation Crisis

Troy Curtin, Brianna DellIsola, Danny Sullivan

Money and Banking

Prof. Khanal
 The hyperinflation crisis of the Weimar Republic in Germany after the

First World War is one of the most well-known cases of hyperinflation in

history. The war left Germany in great debt, which was added to by

reparations they were required to pay by the Treaty of Versailles. The

extreme hyperinflation lead to the downfall of the Weimar Republic and to

the eventual rise of the Nazi party, bringing Germany and the rest of the

world into the Second World War.

1
Before the First World War, Germany had a booming economy. As a highly

advanced industrial country, Germans were producing twice as much steel in

1914 than an economic powerhouse such as Britain was. While most modern

countries can thank their economy to immigrants coming in, Germany can

thank it to the drop in emigrants during this time. Germany had seen a steep

decline in the amount of Germans leaving the country, most likely due to the

rise in employment opportunities within Germany. The over emigrant rate

dropped from 130,000 annually to 20,000, leading to multiple factories being

built to employee these citizen as well as increase production. German

exports were 63% finished goods in 1913, an increase from the previous 33%

in 1873. Overall the country became a very urban based country, with 60%

of citizens living in urban areas2. Perfect for factory workers. Overall with

1 German American Immigrants germanamericandream.weebly.com/german-immigration-chart.html.

Accessed 11 Dec. 2016

2 Geary, Patrick J., James J. Sheehan, Charles C. Bayley, Lawrence G. Duggan, and
Theodore S. Hamerow. Britannica18 Aug. 2016,
https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/Germany-from-1871-to-1918. Accessed
11 Dec. 2016
such a good economy, no German

could have pictured the downfall

they would see economically in the

coming years.

Each country involved in World War

I was greatly economically

impacted, however, Germany

differed from most countries in the

way they financed the war. While

countries like France imposed

income tax to fund a majority of their war efforts, Germany did no such

thing. These two forms of payment for the war came from a pre-existing war

plan.

In 1874, Germany gained four billion Marks from France in reparations

from the Franco-Prussian War. The government decided that part of this new

sum of money would be set aside for any future war and that wars

expenses. The total that was decided on was 120 million Marks, an amount

that was stored as gold coins in 1,200 wooden boxes. It was decided that if

that total amount could not fully pay for the next war, then the extra costs

would be paid for by both short term credit and long term loans. During the

1880s, the finance minister had realized that this plan would not work, due

to the fact that any future war would be much more costly than what they
had originally planned for. It was now agreed that any future war would have

to be fully financed by credit, due to the 120 million Marks not making a dent

in any war costs. They believed that the coming generations would be able

to benefit from investing into wars, not realizing that would only work if

Germany was to win the war. Other than having future generations invest for

the war, the German government was to borrow from their central bank

called the Reichsbank. The Reichsbank was privately owned but was still held

subordinate to laws mandated by the German government. At all times, the

Reichsbank was to hold a total of one third of notes in circulation in gold and

in treasury notes. A special tax would be implemented if the amount that the

Reichsbank had in circulation passed the legal limit in note circulation. The

remaining two thirds of issued notes would be covered by commercial bills.

When it came to financing the First World War, all measures were

taken. When Germany had truly put themselves in the war on August 4,

1914, they needed to create finance laws. These laws were quickly drawn up

and unanimously voted for in a rapid and frantic manor. Imperial gold

equaling 240 million Marks was given to the Reichsbank days before. The

Reichsbank had already given out its money supply to the German

government to help finance the war. This caused payments within their gold

reserve to be suspended. The Reichsbank was responsible for the immediate

war cost. It paid for this in short-term credit given to the German

government; which was already authorized to have 5 billion Marks in credit

for war finance, which could increase if need be. While gold standard rules
were suspended, the government convinced the public that their currency

was still stable, even though this was untrue. While these practices worked

for their borrowing portion of financing the war, more measures were taken.

A big part of Germanys financing of the war came from war bonds,

similar to those of the United States. German propaganda was sent out

stating how great a war bond is. They used tactics such as stating that the

war bonds had high interest rates and the war was going to be a big win for

Germany. The German population believed this and jumped right on board

with buying war bonds. The German government gain four and a half billion

Marks from a little over one million subscriptions. Unfortunately in 1914 the

German population did not know that they were actually in fact going to lose

the war and that the subscriptions in bonds would soon be worthless. Buying

bonds was not the only thing the German government was able to convince

the German people to do. To maintain the gold reserve, the Reichsbank had

the people of Germany exchange gold coins in for notes. The Reichsbank

received over one billion gold coins traded in within 1914 alone. Again the

people had no idea that these notes would be worthless come the end of the

war. German financial minister Karl Helfferich, who served from 1915 to

1916, dropped the idea of paying for the war in taxes. He believed that the
war was going to be short and it would not be worth it to finance through

taxes3.

It would be thought that with all the gold the Reichsbank had reserved

that it would be hardly impossible for Germany to be so in debt after the First

World War. There were multiple things that attributed to Germanys debt. In

1914, Germany faced a trade deficit from British ships setting a blockade to

stop imports and exports in Germany. The Reichsbank had lost over 100

million Marks worth of gold from funding the smuggling of goods from the

blockade. This was all by 1914 alone. The loss of gold continue throughout

the war, leading Germany into a debt before the war was even over.

Although Germany had already started to see debt before the First

World War had ended, most of its debt that lead to the hyperinflation that it

saw, came from right after the war ended. First off Germany lost the war.

This meant that all their promises to the German people of winning went

away. As if the debt Germany was already facing and the low German morale

wasnt punishment enough, the Allied forces need to enact more of a

punishment onto them.

After WWI the Treaty of Versailles was the Allied forces put in place to

punish Germany. It caused Germany to pay extreme debts from the war and

limited their army, territories, natural resources, and infrastructures. The

3 Gross, Stephen: War Finance (Germany), in: 1914-1918-online. International

Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz,
Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie
Universitt Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08
Treaty of Versailles was viewed first hand from economist John Maynard

Keynes, and can be seen through his book Economic Consequences of Peace.

The part of the treaty in which Keynes focused the most on was the

reparations portion. Keynes stated that since the Allied countries would be

the ones deciding the damages in which that Germany would pay for, they

would use the power they had gained to write a bill that would only benefit

themselves, not realizing or caring about the damage that it could due to

Germany. He argued that the bill in which the Allied countries came up with

would only be able to be paid off in the German people became enslaved4.

The estimated a total cost of debt neared 132 billion gold marks, which was

added to the debt gained during the war, of 140 billion marks for Germany.

The gold mark was valued at how much gold a mark could buy before the

war, not its actual value which was much less. Without these reparations

Germany may have been able to come out of debt. The only other thing truly

stopping them from coming out of debt were the protective tariffs put on

Germanys goods. Although the citizens in Germany had no real income to

buy they goods with the tariff restrictions, Germans would have been able to

sell them in foreign countries for income if it werent for those restrictions.

This was all a part of why World War I was an embarrassment for the

Germans. It was the first major World War, which so they lost. Not only did

they lose the war to power house countries such as the United States and

4 Ferguson, Naill. "Keynes and the German Inflation." Apr. 1995,

www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~nfergus/publications/Keynes%20and%20the
%20German%20Inflation.pdf. Accessed 11 Dec. 2016.
Britain; they also lost more than two and a half men, while allowing another

four million to become wounded. The loss of men lead to a lack of Germans

in the workforce. The country of Germany was in an overall state of turmoil.

The best thing the Germans thought of doing was creating a new

government; the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic is the unofficial

name given to Germany between 1919 and 1933. Their government was now

a semi-presidential representative democracy, with a new constitution. The

Republic caused both economic disasters and political separation. Although

both the economic and political problems were significant, one of the most

memorable facts from the Weimar Republic is the hyperinflation it faced.

The financial crisis of the Weimar republic was happening

simultaneously with the Great Depression in the United States. In April of

1919 it took twelve German Marks to match one US dollar. By December on

1923, it took 4.2 trillion marks to match one US dollar, even though the value

5
of the US dollar was down. There are pictures that circulate today of young

German children during this time playing with stacks of money, basically

using them as blocks, while adults would use the paper money as wallpaper.

Those pictures themselves proves just how worthless all the currency was.

The question behind this is why Germany was affected so much more than

The United States was even though they were both going through a

5 Gross, Stephen: War Finance (Germany), in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia

of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer
Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universitt Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08
depression during the same time period. There are multiple answers to that.

First off United States had given loans to Germany, which they sought to

collect right when the Great

Depression hit. This added on even

more to German debt, while

benefitting the United States.

Second answer is The United States

and worldwide Great Depression

started in 1929 almost ten years

after the German depression had

started. The United States

depression was formed by a stock

market crashed, known today as Black Tuesday. That was an isolated invent

that was no ones fault but the stock market. The German depression

however was put onto them by other countries after World War I. Germany

was hit so much worse because the Allied countries made them get hit with

an extreme amount of debt in order to benefit themselves. By the Allied

countries turning their backs on Germany and cutting political ties, there was

no way to avoid a depression.

German chancellor Heinrich Bruening, who held the position in the

early 1930s, helped cause the depression Germany faced by raising taxes

and cutting public expenditure. In The United States during this time Franklin

D. Roosevelt was working on the New Deal to help stabilize the economy. The
programs he had which, provide jobs while also providing real tangible things

for the United States, were not seen anywhere in Germany. Bruenings

reasoning for feeding into the depression was the sole purpose of

strengthening international relationships. The rest of the world currently

hated Germany, and one would think that if the rest of the world hated a

country, that the country would work to improve its own country rather gain

the respect of other countries. Although he plan was foolish, Bruening, by

allowing the German economy to become so bad, was able to get the debt

demands terminated by 1932, by convincing the Allied countries that

Germany would keep gaining debt, which they could never pay off. With the

debt demands now terminated, Germany was able to focus now on

strengthen their own country and putting any monetary values to that cause.

Although this did not fully bring Germany back to what it once was, it was a

starting point.

With Reichsbank marks still being worthless, a new currency was put in

place of it. Hans Luther, Agricultural Minister of Germany, developed the

Rentenmark. The plan was that the Rentenmark was backed by bonds tied to

the market price of rye and that gold was substituted out for rye. This beat

out another plan by Karl Helfferich, which would have had a currency called

the Roggenmark. The Roggenmark would have been backed by mortgage

bonds tied to the market price of rye. While old Reichsbank Marks stayed in

circulation, they continued to decrease in value. On August 30, 1924 a law

was passed that allowed the exchange of the one trillion Reichsbank Mark to
the Rentenmark. Once the economy became more stable, previous debts

became acknowledged in order to pay off the creditors. For example,

mortgages with a face value of 25% were reinstated in 1925.6

Eventually the German economy became steadily stable. With the gold

standard back in place7 and the new currency bringing the inflation down;

Germany was beginning to look how it did before the First World War. Overall

the German people had lost faith in the Weimar Republic, eventually leading

to the downfall of that government. With the downfall of the Weimar

Republic, came the rise of Hitler and Nazi party. With this came the economic

rise of the nation but the downfall of many with World War II and the

Holocaust just a few years away. Hitler had used the economic fears that the

German people had just seen years before as his platform in convincing

Germany that the Jewish population was to blame for their overall economic

depression. Without the hyperinflation crisis, Hitlers reign and World War II

may have not happened.

When analyzing the Weimar Republic hyperinflation crisis, concepts

learned in the course Money and Banking came to mind. Germany and The

United States certainly have differences in everything from cultural to

politics, yet they have some similarities in economics. Both countries our
6 "Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic."
researchonline.jcu.edu.au/21599/3/21599.pdf. Accessed 11 Dec. 2016

7 Lewis, Nathan. "In Hyperinflation's Aftermath, How Germany Went Back To

Gold." Forbes9 June 2011, www.forbes.com/2011/06/09/germany-gold-
standard.html. Accessed 11 Dec. 2016.
sovereign countries, The United States with the dollar bill and Germany with

the Mark at that point. The concept that is hard to grasp is both countries

face debt and a depression but one made it out easier than the other.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to bring The United States out of their

depression with the New Deal. He was able to create jobs that worked to

create real things in the American society. This was due to The United States

government acting as an Employer of Last Resort (ELR). This means

President Roosevelt and the government could provide a job to anyone who

was willing and able to work in The United States. Germany on the other

hand did not do anything like this. They just printed money without ever

producing anything along with it. Eventually the money would lose value if it

is so easy to come by. That seems like it would be almost obvious that

hyperinflation would come about.

Instead of working to create jobs and make real things, German

workers went on strike once the Allied countries took control of their factories

in the Ruhr Valley8. This was the most likely case that the Weimar Republic

did not try to create jobs, since although citizens were able to work, none

were willing. The only thing in Germany during this time that was being

produced is monetary bills, no other real things.

8 Castillo, Daniel. "German Economy in the 1920's." Dec. 2003,

www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/1920s/Econ20s.htm.
Accessed 11 Dec. 2016
Some argue that The United States today is becoming the new Weimar

Republic or at least could become it. The United States have been

economically instable the past few years and citizens fear the trillions of debt

that The United States is in. Also there is a newfound fear of terrorists,

especially Middle Easterners, resembling the same fear as Germany with the

Jewish population. However it is highly unlikely that The United States is

going to become anything like the Weimar republic due to it having the

ability to take necessary steps as a sovereign country to avoid economic

issues like that.

The Weimar Republic was not the first case nor the last case of

hyperinflation. There was hyperinflation in France during the late 1700s, and

more modernly there has been hyperinflation seen in Zimbabwe during the

21st century.

Zimbabwes inflation grew rapidly over a four year span. In 2005 the

inflation rate was at 585.84%, 1,281.11% in 2006, 66,212.3% in 2007, and

finally 231,150,888.87% in 20089. This is an extremely fast increasing in

inflation. What differs in Zimbabwe than the Weimar Republic and other

hyperinflation cases is that Zimbabwes hyperinflation does not have one of

the World Wars, or any war, to blame for the debt and inflation. The citizens

of Zimbabwe can thank both corruption and unemployment as to why their

bank notes are worthless. Currently the main currency in Zimbabwe is the US
9 Pettinger, Tejvan. "Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe." Economics Help1 Apr. 2011,
www.economicshelp.org/blog/390/inflation/hyper-inflation-in-zimbabwe/. Accessed
11 Dec. 2016.
dollar, as the bank notes of the Zimbabwe currency were getting up to

increments of one hundred trillion dollar notes10.

Although the Zimbabwe hyperinflation crisis is not close to being over, it is

hoped that the country of Zimbabwe can learn from the twenty-nine previous

inflation crisis that the world has seen.

Throughout the research paper, it is clear that studying a

hyperinflation crisis is valuable to study. Multiple new material regarding

money and banking situations came up in various spots throughout the

paper. Mostly important it is now easy to see where the hyperinflation is

starting, and how to hopefully prevent any future cases. It was extremely

interesting to learn how different countries take different approaches to

dealing with it; such as The United States keeping their currency while

Germany had to change theirs. Next is to see what Zimbabwe does, seeing

how they have adopted the United States Dollar. It is hoped that Zimbabwe

is the final hyperinflation crisis, even though that will not be the case.

10 "In Dollars They Trust." The Economist27 Apr. 2013,

www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21576665-grubby-greenbacks-
dear-credit-full-shops-and-empty-factories-dollars-they. Accessed 11 Dec. 2016.
 Annotated Biblography

1. Gross, Stephen: War Finance (Germany), in: 1914-1918-online.

International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel,
Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer,
and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universitt Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08.

a. Ultimately, the larger implication of German war finance was less

the hyperinflation, and more the fact that it accelerated the
transition from a specie to a fiat currency. By the end of the war
virtually all gold and silver coinage had been drawn out of
circulation and collected in the vaults of the Reichsbank. As a
result, during the four long years of war Germanys population
became accustomed to paper money to an extent not thought
possible before August 1914. Although Weimar tried to return to
the gold standard in the 1920s, its gold-backed currency was
short-lived. With the Great Depression Germany again left the
gold standard, this time for good.
2. Germany - World War I. (2016, August 19). Retrieved December 11,
2016, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/World-War-I

a. The social and political cost of the hyperinflation was high.

Scholars note that the inflation did more to undermine the
middle classes than the ostensibly socialist revolution of 1918. A
lifetime of savings would no longer buy a subway ticket. Pensions
planned for a lifetime were wiped out completely. Politically, the
hyperinflation fueled radicalism on both the left and the right.
The Communists, badly damaged by their failure in January
1919, saw greatly improved prospects for a successful revolution.
In Munich the leader of the small National Socialist German
Workers (Nazi) Party, Adolf Hitler, used the turmoil to fashion an
alliance with other right-wing groups and attempt a coup in
November 1923the Beer Hall Putschthat sought to use
Bavaria as a base for a nationalist march on Berlin. He hoped to
overthrow the democratic system of Weimar that he believed
was responsible for Germanys political and economic
humiliation.

3. Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11,

2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W/index.php

a. The hyperinflation episode in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s

was not the first hyperinflation, nor was it the only one in early
1920s Europe or even the most extreme inflation in history (the
Hungarian peng and Zimbabwean dollar have both been more
inflated). However, as the most prominent case following the
emergence of economics as a scholarly discipline, it drew
interest in a way that previous instances had not. Many of the
dramatic and unusual economic behaviors now associated with
hyperinflation were first documented systematically in Germany:
order-of-magnitude increases in prices and interest rates,
redenomination of the currency, consumer flight from cash to
hard assets, and the rapid expansion of industries that produced
those assets. German monetary economics was then highly
influenced by Chartalism and the German Historical School, and
this conditioned the way the hyperinflation was then usually
analyzed.
4. Castillo, D. (2003, December). German Economy in the 1920s.
Retrieved December 11, 2016, from
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/1920
s/Econ20s.htm
 a. There were several characteristics which Germany possessed
after the First World War which made them vulnerable to being
manipulated by someone like Adolf Hitler. As in most nations, the
economic factors of the time play a significant role in
determining how a society will behave. Germany was
economically devastated after a draining defeat in World War I.
Due to the Versailles treaty, Germany was forced to pay
incredibly sizeable reparations to France and Great Britain. In
addition, the Versailles treaty, which many agreed was far too
harsh, forced Germany to give up thirteen percent of its land.

5. Voth, H. (2012, May 22). Did High Wages or High Investment Bring
Down the Weimar Republic? Retrieved December 8, 2016, from
http://www.piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capitalisback/CountryData/Germany/
Other/Pre1950Series/RefsHistoricalGermanAccounts/Voth95.pdf

a. This article offers a new interpretation of the low level of

investment in Germany during the interwar period. Earlier
contributions attributed the slow expansion of capital stock
either to excessive wages due to state intervention and
unionization or to the high cost of capital. These hypotheses are
tested by estimating a co-integration model of investment.
Counterfactual simulations demonstrate that lower wages would
have lowered investment still further and that high interest rates
acted as the main brake on investment during the second half of
the 1920s.

6. In dollars they trust. (2013, April 27). Retrieved December 11, 2016,
from http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-
economics/21576665-grubby-greenbacks-dear-credit-full-shops-and-
empty-factories-dollars-they

a. This article goes into detail about the Zimbabwe dollars value
and reflect well with the Weimar Republic. Given their own
experience with money-printing, locals are queasy about
quantitative easing as practised by the Fed and other rich-
world central banks. Yet for all the printing of electronic dollars
by the Fed, the greenback is a hard currency in Zimbabwe. Few
are clamouring for its replacement by a local brand.
7. Pettinger, T. (2011, April 1). Hyper Inflation in Zimbabwe. Retrieved
December 11, 2016, from
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/390/inflation/hyper-inflation-in-
zimbabwe/

a. A likely explanation for the situation in Zimbabwe could be the

government printing money in response to a shortage of output,
and thereby increasing the money supply much faster than Real
GDP. A few years ago, national debt in Zimbabwe increased to
over 100% of GDP. To finance the National Debt, the Government
started printing money; but, this only devalued the value of
existing money and caused prices to rise. The inflation is also
exacerbated by a shortage of supply. Because basic goods are in
short supply it is easy for market prices to be increased causing
a spiral effect of upwardly rising prices. This article explains the
hyperinflation crisis in Zimbabwe, which is very similar and
relatable in comparison to that of the Weimar Republic economy.
8. C N Trueman "Impact of World War One on the Weimar Republic"
historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 22 May 2015. 16
Aug 2016.
a. The History Learning Site goes through the struggles that were
caused before during and after the start of World War 1
pertaining to the Weimar Republic. It talks about the impact that
the war had on the republic economically. It explains how
propaganda was a key factor in allowing the government that
would later lead to economic disaster come into power. The
researchers here also describe the economic conditions in
Germany around that time, where widespread poverty was an
epidemic. The research tells about the effect that the food
shortages had on the population, along with the lack of labor
workers to keep up with the economic demand.

9. "The Road to War: Germany: 1919-1939." The Road to War: Germany:

1919-1939. Authentic History, 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
a. The authors of this article, The Road to War: Germany 1919-
1939, explain the idea around how the Weimar Republic got
started. They study into the economics of how war reparations of
the magnitude that Germany was hit with from World War 1 can
affect a country. Their research delves into how war reparations,
loans from America, and poor monetary policy turned into the
greatest example of hyperinflation a country has ever seen. The
researchers at Authentic History delve into how the dangerous
practice of printing more money to pay off debt when the money
wasnt backed by anything created turmoil economically for
Germany during the reign of the Weimar Republic.
10. "Primary Sources: Weimar Economics." Facing History and
Ourselves. Facing History, 16. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
a. Facing Historys investigative research on the Weimar Republics
economy detailed the mistakes and flaws of their policies and
actions. It jumps into the five year period after World War 1
where they faced huge debt that resulted from them trying to
finance a very costly war. The researchers here look at various
economic theatres of the Weimar Republic during that time. They
include discussion about Germanys empty treasury, the
declining value of their currency, and even war debt that came
from the bill imposed at the Treaty of Versailles. It also explains
how the economy was hurt by the loss of territory leading to
depleted natural resources and even ships, trains, and factory
equipment.

11. "European History." Weimar Germany 1919-1933. History Home,

12 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
a. History Homes analysis of the Weimar Republic goes into great
depth. They explore various economics aspects of the Republic,
and talk about some of the issues that came about with their
policy. The research done by this site explains how the economy
lacked a strong labor force due to the depleted workers that were
being killed by the great world war. It explains how this
devastated the economy and even lead to rising prices due to
lower supply. It later goes on to explain how the economic
policies of the Republics leaders, combined with lack of
resources, lack of labor force, debt, and loans, were all a part of
the financial devastation of the republic which hit the worst
during its hyperinflation and from the wrath of the Great
Depression in America.

12. "Economics and Politics in the Weimar Republic." EHnet.

Economic History Services, 1 Mar. 2003. Web. 11 Dec. 2016
a. Author Theo Balderston of, Economics and Politics in the Weimar
Republic, explores the early 20th century German government
from a number of different angles. It discusses the golden
years of the Weimar Republic that happened previously to the
disaster and turmoil, which is also discussed. The research talks
about how no other period in German history has ever been
studied as much, due to the fact of historical relevance and true
economic trial and error. It went into the idea that the policies of
this government were a complete failure, and how they did not
come about with realistic alternatives to their policy. It discusses
 their view of how the German economy of the late 20s was torn
by distributional conflicts between labor and capital.

13. "Quantitative Easing Worked For The Weimar Republic For A Little
While Too." The Economic Collapse. Economic Collapse Blog, 2016.
Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
a. The research done by the Economic Collapse Blog talked about
Quantitative Easing in the Weimar Republic. Their thesis is that
quantitative easing practiced in the former German government
actually worked, but only for a little while. It explains how every
fiat currency in history has eventually failed due to governments
temptation to print more money. This source details that even if
the motivation for doing so is good, an economy will easily fall
for the falsehood that things would be better if people just had
more money. The research also parallels the Weimar Republics
economic policies with the economy of modern day America,
giving it a unique approach to how the former government can
be viewed.

14. "The Best and the Worst." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper,
22 Sept. 2007. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
a. The research presented by The Economist goes deep into the
best and worst aspects of the Weimar Republics economic
outlook. It asks and answers the question of if the German
democracy ever even stood an economic chance in the world. It
goes into the worst of the Republics economy where there was
hyperinflation, mass unemployment, and political assassination.
The author also describes the best of the economy, where the
Weimar Republic went into a brief unsustainable golden age that
was ruined by the poor practices of the government, immense
debt, hardship of war, and loans from America that got affected
by the Great Recession.

15. @positivemoneyuk. "Hyperinflation: How the Wrong Lessons

Were Learned from Weimar and Zimbabwe (A History of Public Money
Creation Part 2 of 8) - Positive Money." Positive MoneyHyperinflation
How the Wrong Lessons Were Learned from Weimar and Zimbabwe A
History of Public Money Creation Part 2 of 8 Comments. Frank Van
Lerven, 2016. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.
a. The second article I found is all about hyperinflation and how
countries and states shouldnt be allowed to issue currency. The
main focus is in regards to state-led money creation in Zimbabwe
and the Weimar Republic, with relation to our crisis. It explains in
depth how governments shouldnt newly create money to
finance government spending, but rather rely on commercial
banks to create money through lending. On record, President of
 the Reichsbank at the time Hjalmar Schacht, concluded that
allies insisting on granting total private control of the bank is the
primary issue. Once the total private control was granted, they
issued massive amounts of currency until half the amount of
money circulating was private bank money. This was basically an
enabler for the crisis to occur, allowing profit hungry individuals
to focus solely on a solution involving quick rebuilding

16. Snyder, Michael. "Hyperinflation Weimar Republic." The

Economic Collapse. N.p., 22 Sept. 2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

a. This article begins by reflecting on the Weimar Republic financial

crisis and how the solution led to failure which is inevitable. With
relation to the 2008 U.S. financial crisis the author describes how
we made the exact same mistake when the economy fell by way
of adopting the same bailout strategy where the Federal Reserve
chose to just produce more money out of thin air. Both
experienced a positive grace period of quantitative easing, but
once the economy became fully active again and unemployment
started to rise, it caused a meltdown of the currency value.
Although the production of money rose and the economy looked
like it was finally seeing a positive outcome, the household
income dropped consecutively over several years.

17.