Inflation has been around since antiquity. The Roman Empire was particularly known for debasing its currency (by minting their coins with increasingly impure precious metals) to cover state expenditures, especially in times of war. The increasing nominal money supply and pressure from imports paid for with silver resulted in steady inflation of prices and wages.
The invention of paper money only made it easier for governments to cause out-of-control inflation by creating too much money. This occurred most famously in the Weimar Republic (prices doubling about every two days) and in Zimbabwe (prices doubling about every day). The most extreme example in recorded history was the Hungarian pengő (prices doubling about every 15 hours): "…by the time the pengo was replaced by the forint in August 1946 the dollar value of all Hungarian banknotes in circulation was just one-thousandth of one [US] cent."
Some small level of inflation is seen by present-day central banks as desirable for various reasons. Most obviously, it discourages hoarding of capital and therefore fuels economic growth. The ability to freely print money also gives central banks a greater level of control over the economy through setting monetary policy. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in the United Stats aims for 2% annual inflation.
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