Just before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, it provided a type of experiment of the quantity theory of money. In early 1991, the Soviet government declared all 50- and 100-ruble currency notes worthless. Citizens had only three days to convert these large notes into smaller-denomination notes. Many citizens found that deadline impossible to meet. The intended total reduction in large-denomination ruble notes was 26 billion rubles, or a nearly 20 percent reduction in nominal money balances supplied by the government. In the equation of exchange if velocity, V, is constant and if real GDP is relatively stable, a 20 percent reduction in the money supply, M, has to lead to a 20 percent reduction in the price level, P. Did this happen?