Friday, February 09, 2007

Inflation is illegal! (in Zimbabwe)

I don't know whether it is in any way comforting to know that there are even worse politicians and decision makers than our very own, in Romania. Of course it is not at all comforting for the poor people from Zimbabwe, where the following example comes from. So what's going on there? Many bad things, for sure, but one of the worst is that the inflation reached 1281 % (this is not a typo) this months and has been over 1000 % since last year's April. What does Mr. Mugabe and his (indeed, his, everything is his there...) central bank do about it? Well, they apply the most clever solution one could think of: they declare inflation illegal- not a type either- (and of course blame the West for plotting against them)! I think I won't put this in the 'fun' category, though it is indeed tragicomic, as Greg Mankiw points out (and he also mentions in passing, his 10 concise principles of Economics- useful for all readers of this blog, Economists or not).

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