The Nixon Shock is a series of policy changes implemented by former president Nixon in 1971. It consisted of closing the gold window, a 10% surcharge on imports and a 90-day wage price freeze.[1] The American Presidency Project: “Address to the Nation Outlining a New Economic Policy: “The Challenge of Peace.”” Accessed March 18, 2022.

Consumer Price Inflation is when the prices of goods and services increase throughout the economy. When the money supply grows faster than the production of goods and services, there is more money chasing the same number of goods and services. Due to supply and demand, this bids up the prices of goods and services.

The gold standard is a monetary system that pegs a country’s currency to physical gold at a fixed exchange rate. It was the predominant monetary system between 1870 and 1933. Under a gold standard, governments can’t inflate the money supply arbitrarily.

The Federal Reserve System, often called Federal Reserve, or simply Fed, is the central bank of the United States. It was established when Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act in 2013. The Federal Reserve’s stated main goal is to promote full employment and provide price stability.

The Great Depression was a prolonged economic crisis that started with the stock market crash of 1929 and lasted almost a decade. The Great Depression was a deflationary depression during which prices of consumer products such as food and clothes decreased considerably. Asset prices of stocks, real estate and commodities dropped sharply as well.

The German hyperinflation took place between 1922-1923 and is one of the most famous examples of hyperinflation in history. The Reichsmark lost all of its purchasing power in a matter of months as Germany struggled to pay its war debt and make war reparations under the Versailles Treaty.

The Bretton Woods system was a monetary system that 44 countries participated in between 1944 and 1971. As part of the Bretton Woods system, countries held US dollars in their central bank’s reserves while the United States held physical gold in Fort Knox.