This popular scientific paper presents the main reasons for strong inflation processes in various countries, their abrupt development and related basic economic problems.

The overview of phenomena resulting in the loss of the money value begins with the Roman inflation that occurred at the end of the 2nd century AD. A classic inflation sequence occurred at that time. The sequence was to reoccur in the future, leading to the destruction of the state's money and economics. It involved:

1. ambitious public projects and military expenses,
2. an abrupt increase in expenses leading to increased taxes,
3. decreased taxation base (smaller number of tax payers),
4. implementation of monetary methods: spoiling the precious metal money (Rome) or excessive printing of paper money (later cases).

The paper's subsequent chapters present an overview of the following:

1. the Chinese inflation related to the invention of paper money in China and a large demand for financial resources due to wars and defence investments (the Great Wall),
2. inflations financing revolutions (the French inflation at the end of the 17th century and the Russian inflation in the early 20th century),
3. inflations following post-war crises, including German and Polish inflations.

The last inflation described in the paper is the Yugoslavian inflation of the 1990s expressed by the issuance of a banknote of 500,000,000 dinars.

Following the presentation of the financial events, the author concludes that hyperinflations are in fact specific tax systems excessively expanded by the state. The state, in need for money to finance its investments or military programmes, is a short-term beneficiary of such system while the whole society is the payer of such taxes. The conclusion corresponds to the statement made by Irving Fisher, a leading economist from the early 20th century, who claimed that inflation may be called a legal counterfeiting of money.