Sharp-Edged Fiscal Policy in North Korea and Medieval France
It happens--albeit rarely:
IFAonline: Pak Nam Ki was responsible for curbing inflation but his actions saw people's savings wiped out. according to reports. It is understood his execution is an attempt to contain civil unrest. Under 77-year-old Pak's orders, people holding old banknotes were instructed to cash them in at a rate of 100 old notes for one new one. Further hardship was imposed with a restriction on the number of old notes that could be exchanged... savings were wiped out and prices soared leaving thousands of North Koreans with piles of worthless currency. The nation's leader, Kim Jong Ill ordered Pak to be sacked from his job as chief of the communist party's planning and finance department, then put on trial. After being found guilty of ruining the national economy, he was taken to a military range in the capital, Pyongyang, and shot dead by a firing squad...
The only other one I have in the forefront of my brain is the late lamented Enguerrand de Marigny. Wikipedia:
Enguerrand de Marigny: He shared the popular odium which Philip incurred by debasing the coinage.... He addressed the States-General in 1314 and succeeded in getting further taxes for the Flemish war, incurring at the same time much ill will. This soon came to a head when the princes of the blood, eager to fight the Flemings, were disappointed by his negotiating a peace in September. He was accused of receiving bribes.... The death of Philip IV [Capet] on November 29, 1314 was a signal for a reaction against his policy.... Enguerrand was arrested by Louis X [Capet] at the instigation of Charles of Valois, and twenty-eight articles of accusation including charges of receiving bribes.... [H]is accounts were correct, and Louis was inclined to spare him anything more than banishment to the island of Cyprus. Charles then brought forward a charge of sorcery which was more effectual. He was condemned at once and hanged on the public gallows at Montfaucon, protesting that in all his acts he had only been carrying out Philip's commands.... Louis X seems to have repented of his treatment of Marigny... Charles of Valois... dying in 1325... was stricken with remorse and ordered alms to be distributed among the poor of Paris with a request to pray for the souls of Enguerrand and Charles...
And, of course, Henry VII Tudor's Finance Minister John Morton, executed by Henry VIII Tudor.
