ELI5: Why do governments print more money?

Governments print more money to try and make things easier when the country needs more money to pay for things.

Imagine your family has a lemonade stand.

• Sometimes, your family needs more money than you earn from lemonade. Maybe the lemons are more expensive this week (inflation!), or maybe you want to buy a new sign to attract more customers (government spending).

• If you could just print more play money, you could buy more lemons and a new sign! That's what governments try to do.

• If everyone has lots of play money, the lemons seller will realize this and raise the price of lemons even higher! This is because the play money is now worth less (devaluation).

• So, even though you have more play money, you can't buy any more lemons than before. This is like inflation in a country. If the government prints too much money, the prices of everything go up.

• Pay for things like schools, hospitals, and roads (government spending).
• Give people money during hard times, like when lots of people lose their jobs (economic stimulus).