Hyperinflation
Plain definition
Hyperinflation is extremely rapid, out-of-control inflation — conventionally defined as prices rising more than 50% per month. Money loses value so fast that it ceases to function as a store of value, and economies often revert to barter or foreign currency.
In economics
Hyperinflation is almost always a fiscal-monetary phenomenon: governments print money to finance deficits they cannot fund otherwise, destroying confidence in the currency. It wipes out savings, collapses investment horizons, and can topple governments. Famous cases include Weimar Germany (1923), Zimbabwe (2008, peaking at billions of percent), and Venezuela (2010s). Ending it requires credible fiscal reform and usually a new currency regime.
Example
In Zimbabwe in 2008, prices roughly doubled every day at the peak — a loaf of bread could cost trillions of Zimbabwean dollars. Workers were paid twice daily and rushed to spend wages immediately, because money held for a week lost nearly all its value.
Hyperinflation is often misused for any high inflation: 10-20% annual inflation is painful but is not hyperinflation — the technical threshold is about 50% per month. It is also not caused by ordinary supply shocks or corporate pricing; historically it stems from governments monetizing large deficits, which is why it ends only with fiscal credibility, not price controls.