Originally Posted by rickair7777

Yes governments can and do cause inflation. As can outside events which effect the economy.

But inflation would happen regardless, with paper money. If your currency is rigidly backed by say gold, inflation would probably not happen naturally since a precious metal holds its value over time (subject to natural price swings).

Even precious metals are not utterly foolproof, if something changed the underlying value of the commodity to society you could get an associated step change in a backed currency. In the case of a precious metal that could be a black swan such as the (unlikely but possible) discovery of a massive reserve, or conversely a new industrial process which creates a vast new demand (something like lithium & batteries).

Unbacked currency is just a promise, and promises get weaker over time. Producers of goods and services will always prefer to deal with people who can provide goods and services in return, vice people sitting on a pile of old paper. Inflation is the quantifiable manifestation of that preference.