And for countries with an acute history of inflation, the rigour of a currency board may be the best medicine.
The inflation, the devaluation of currency, the coming privation when banking and oil sanctions took full hold: this, and not even the election turnout, was what the Islamic Republic wished to hide from foreign eyes.
Socialist policies that undermined production and produced shortages of basic food products also fueled inflation, while a depreciation of the currency shortly before Chavez's death promised to worsen those problems.
Although devaluation of the currency and inflation would generate losses for creditors, those losses are typically a fraction of losses that would arise from a default by government or - as Greece is trying to do - from a request to creditors to voluntarily forgo an element of what they're owed.
To fully understand the risks that face Bernanke, the Fed and the U.S. economy, I invite you to take a step back from everything we know about monetary policy and observe the critical role of trust in determining the value of a currency and the future path of inflation and interest rates.
Once again, inflation is a function of sagging currency values that foster reduced investment in productive endeavors.
Beijing can get away with informal price controls if it deals with the underlying causes of inflation: an undervalued currency, which has kept export receipts artificially strong, and overly stimulative policies adopted late 2008.
Now that it's out, the money-printing genie cannot be put back in the bottle even if the result may be to consign economies to further years of stagnation, rising debt burdens, fewer opportunities for young people and ultimately the risk of rising inflation and global currency instability.
The strong euro undermines the competitiveness of European exporters, and also drags down inflation in the single currency area due to the cheapening of imports.
Mantega is responsible for the all-important task of keeping the Brazilian growth miracle going by taming the double-threats of currency appreciation and inflation.
Other countries whose trade is mostly within the euro area point to the inflation-controlling benefits of a strong currency, when it comes to buying imports and above all oil (which is priced in dollars).
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At this point in the game, a real answer seems uncertain like in real-world stock markets, supply and demand causes inflation on the rates of game items and currency.
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The act of central bank money printing temporarily drives down nominal interest rates, while at the same time creating inflation and lowering the intrinsic value of the currency that is printed.
The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire saw the rebirth of Austria in 1918 as a rather diminished republic, while the rampant hyper-inflation of 1923 finished off the old imperial currency, the krone.
The economy has racked up ten years of growth, inflation is low, the currency stable.
Economic theory says increasing supplies of a currency leads to price inflation.
Hence the beginning of inflation, with markets devaluing the debauched currency.
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The official value of the local currency has plummeted by a factor of 16 in the past year, with inflation at over 780%.
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But the Fed expands the money supply (creates inflation), which lowers the purchasing power of the currency.
But with banking restrictions, high inflation, and the plunging value of Iran's currency, many drugs are costly and hard to find in Iran.
He cited potential for inflation, currency debasement and a re-heightening of crises such as U.S. and European debt issues, although he concedes gold has lost some of its allure for now as many investors instead turn to the surging stock market.
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Time to fill the forth and final job of alternatives in a portfolio: protection against inflation and currency devaluation.
Gold bugs see reckless monetary and fiscal policy leading to plummeting currency values and out of control global inflation.
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Printing money would worsen inflation, debauch the currency and bring a balance-of-payments crisis.
If local inflation remains higher than that of the country to which the currency is pegged, the currencies of countries with currency boards can also become overvalued and uncompetitive.
In particular the Germans, with traditionally the strongest economy and currency in Europe, were loth to sign up to monetary union with Italy, given its tradition of mountainous debts, a weak currency and inflation.
The growing trend of multinationals shifting some of their product sourcing from China to other countries in Asia has been driven by a combination of rising labor costs, worker shortages, inflation, currency appreciation and changing policies.
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Obviously with inflation, there are some impacts on the real value of the currency.
Of course, inflation means you can buy less with your currency, especially from foreign markets.
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Yet Mr Paulson suggested this week that the Gulf's currency pegs were not the cause of its inflation problems.
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