"The Paper Guillotine - How the French Revolution printed itself into oblivion" explores the first great hyperinflation of the modern era. When the French revolutionaries overthrew the monarchy, they were broke. To pay their debts, they confiscated church land and issued paper currency backed by it, called "Assignats."Economic historian Pierre Franc details the disaster that followed. The government couldn't stop printing money. Within a few years, the Assignat had lost 99% of its value. A loaf of bread cost a wheelbarrow of cash. The government responded not by stopping the presses, but by...