Inflation in History

In the closing lecture of the morning session, Péter Hahner, Director General of the Rubicon Institute, spoke about the role played by the assignats (paper money) in the French Revolution. In Dr Hahner's opinion, it is useful to start the economic analysis of the French Revolution with the question of France's sovereign debt. [...]the "solution" was that the state issued interest-bearing securities (bonds), in possession of which, as promised by the issuers, the confiscated Church assets could be purchased in the future. Robert Hermann, Head of the Doctoral School of History at Károli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, examined the degree to which food price increases may be regarded as principal reasons for the onset of the 1848 Revolution.