Fiat Money Inflation in France

Want to read history repeating itself? Read this book.Written in 1912. The post French Revolution was a very interesting era that few Americans will ever hear about even though they are re-living it. Short (less than 90 pages), concise and unfortunately very familiar. Some very profound observations on fiat money and why they inevitably fail. Of course, one of the few differences between now and then is today we have social media, back then they had guillotines

This was a great book, a very quick read because it is only 60 pages. The book shows how the fiat currency system failed in France twice in 70 years. The people of France were fooled into using the fiat currency system again 70 years later. Governments use fiat currency to rob their citizens of their time, labor, wealth and savings. While doing this the society loses its morals, infrastructure decays, politicians become more corrupt, and so on. This happened in France in the 1790s and it shows how the world TODAY is pretty much the same. Learning about currency and monetary policy is a must. This book will help you understand why people have trouble saving, and how things don't got UP in price, the currency that they are priced in goes DOWN in value.

As noted by other reviewers this book is about the substantive inflation in France during the 1790s. Putting it simply the French politicians inflated the currency supply by issuing paper, theoretically backed by lands seized from the Catholic church and the fleeing aristocracy, to be used in lieu of gold and silver. At first this had a positive effect on the economy but it rapidly deteriorated to requiring ever increasing amounts of printed currency to maintain momentum. As they printed more currency the value fell, people hoarded gold and the government enacted draconian measures, including the death penalty, to force people to accept the printed currency at par. Ultimately it all crashed and the printed currency was wiped out.This material is essentially a lecture originally given by the author, Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918) in 1876 and updated in 1914 prior to his death. It has had a long life inasmuch as "goldbugs" love the example of the debasement of currency while gold retains value. Today it has experienced renewed interest as the US government aggressively floods the markets with currency to offset the housing crash/recession. So this maintains historical and current interest even though there are many other examples of currency inflation (i.e. Weimar Germany).The book has limitations since it is really a lecture, rather than a "book" per se, and the age of the writing. As a lecture it would be an interesting overview and object lesson in two or three hours. However there are a large number of points which simply can not be explored in detail in a lecture and could only be developed in a full length book (i.e. France attempted to index link loans to the falling currency value). The writing, while clear, struck me as containing elements of florid lecture oratory.In all an interested historical artifact exploring an interesting historical event.

Excellent read, and one which makes the mind ponder just what lies in store for the west with our fiat experimentations.

This goes beyond the cost of goods and into how inflation depreciated society, business, etc. Eye opening and an excellent lesson on the inherent dangers of fiat moneys.

A good if difficult to grasp outline of what happened in France many centuries ago. Seems like history is repeating itself over and over.

Easy read. Interesting read. This and “the creature from Jekyll island” should be in every school curriculum. The world would be a better place if ppl followed where the money comes from that creates the world we see today. “Money is the root of all evil.”

I am not very knowledgeable about cal science economics, but I found this book to be really straightforward and it seems to be the same story I have seen repeated in history books and political science books many times. I will definitely read it again. I completely understand it but I want to make sure I have this story down.

For sure we should learn this at elementary school and make comparisons with wars and poverty based on pinting money

Written by an American and published about a hundred years ago, so not tweaked to ‘relate’ to current events. This is a stark preview of what is happening to our currencies now and a frightening insight into the horrible effects inflation and currency collapse has on the lives of ordinary people. How did they survive? No wonder the French have always been keen on gold.

Finest book on experiment with paper money. It's a great lesson, so very well compiled with understanding and logical presentation.

A well written book about post-French revolution inflationary period. Amazing how people can never learn from history and governments around the world in 20. and 21. century did and do the same mistakes with their foolish policies again and expecting different results. Anybody who doesn't believe in gold standard and believe in Bernanke's policies should read this!

Well researched, well written. A must for any doubter of fiat currency.