Blockquoting X

X = Charles Goodhart.

In some countries which have suffered hyperinflation, ‘dollarisation’ has occurred, as in Argentina, Peru and--to some extent--Russia, and similarly with respect to the Deutschmark in Yugoslavia [...] What is remarkable in these cases is how high the inflation tax rate on domestic currencies has to climb before the public switches to an alternative foreign currency--although once such a switch has occurred, it does not reverse easily or quickly, and when the public does decide to abandon the inflating domestic paper currency, the alternative, privately chosen, good money can virtually drive out the ‘bad’ official money.

I've written a little on the network nature of money. In the future, expect to see many more posts on spontaneous switching between currencies.