Because of the Germany was then occupied by the Americans of British and the French,

they were able to enforce price control much more effectively than a domestic government could have enforced it.

And they had price control, widespread price control.

As a result, you didn't have inflation.

You just simply had money not being used. You had barter.

Exactly.

And it's funny, they used cigarettes as money. They used, uh, uh, liquor as money.

Cognac. I've always said it's the most liquid money you've ever had.

Hi, I'm Bill Whalen. the most liquid money you ever have.

Hi, I'm Bill Whalen. I'm a distinguished policy fellow here at the Hoover Institution. I'd like to welcome you back to Goodfellows, a Hoover Institution broadcast examining social, economic, political, and geopolitical concerns. Now, you may have noticed this is a little bit of an introduction because this is a very different good fellows. Rather than our usual troika of senior fellows, we have just one good fellow on today. And the honor goes to my friend John Cochran. John is the Hoover Institution's

Rosemary and Jack Anderson's senior fellow. He's an economist specializing in financial

economics and macroeconomics. He's also the author of the Grumpy Economist

blog, which provides news, views, and commentary from a humorous free market point of view.

But wait, there's more. John Cochran is the author of the fiscal theory of price level,

a comprehensive account of how government deficits and debt drive inflation. John deserve

an award for good timing. Indeed, the same year the fiscal theory of price level came out,

John was honored with something far better than a pat on the back.

In 2023, he was awarded the Bradley Prize for his work and making sense of economics

and his writing and his analysis.

John, great to have you on the show.

And after four years of having to contend with Neil Ferguson and HR McMaster, the stage is

yours, my friend.

...