Lesson 4b & 5: Printing Money Wrap-up & Hyperinflation: Venezuela and Zimbabwe Case Studies

Learning Objective:

Students will be able to explore how money is created, explain reasons for the fall of other countries’ currencies, and start thinking about how all of this impacts their own lives in the United States.

Jump$tart Standard: Earning Income: 

8-2c. Assess personal skills and interests and match them to various career options.
12-4a. Identify different types of jobs and careers where wages and salaries depend on a worker’s productivity and skills.

SEL Competency: Social Awareness

Pre-work:

• • Set up 7-10 big sticky notes—or tape graph paper—around the classroom for a gallery walk, with the following questions as titles: 
    • What is quantitative easing?
    • What are bank bailouts?
    • What is the cantillon effect?
    • How does inflation affect you?
    • What “was” fractional reserve banking?
    • Topic of your choice around money on remaining big sticky notes
  • Optional but fun: purchase a Zimbabwe $1 billion dollar note on Amazon for $14
  • Utilize the slide show for this lesson to queue up videos for viewing
  • Prepare to distribute this graphic organizer 

Wrap-up from Lesson 4a (8 min) 

Slide: Wrap-up from 4a
Say: Take another 5 minutes to cut and paste the words into the graphic organizer to help explain how money is printed and circulated in the United States. 

Go over answers to the circulation activity if you didn’t get it it last lesson
Answer Key

Homework Review from Lesson 4a (5-10 min) 

Slide: Wrap-up from 4a
Say: We are going to take a few minutes—and whichever question you answered for homework, I want you to transfer or cut and paste your response onto the large piece of paper with that question. Take 5 minutes. If you researched your own question, go to one of the blank pieces of paper to write the question as a title and then your answer.

Gallery Walk (5 min)

Slide: Gallery Walk
Say: Take a few minutes to walk around the room silently and read each person’s response to the various questions.

Hook (2 min)

Slide: Hook
Say: I will give someone in this room $1 billion dollars if you can tell me how much a loaf of bread cost in Zimbabwe during their hyperinflation. How much did it cost? The person who comes the closest wins! 

Slide: Hook—answer in white. Highlight this area to display the answer.

A:  Z$550,000,000! That is five hundred and fifty million Zimbabwean dollars.

Video Series (10 min)

Slide: Video Series
Say: A few lessons ago, we looked at what makes good money. Today we are going to dive into how money is created and what happens when printing money gets out of control. First let’s learn a little about microeconomics. We are going to learn about the quantity theory of money. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q59tZKP0HME (~3 min 27 sec) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi7jx5IJtik  ( ~6 min) 

Say: So what is inflation and what causes it? 

A. Inflation is the rise in a country’s money supply which leads to rises in prices. Printing money is the main cause of inflation. 

Say: And just so we have a solid foundation in understanding inflation, we are going to watch this video to explain inflation and deflation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5WkNxbvLFc

Independent Research (10 min)

Slide: Independent Research
Say:  Explore one of the two countries in the graphic organizer and be prepared to share what happens when printing money goes to the extreme.

Pass out graphic organizer.