If a random country is in debt, is printing money a good way to pay it off at the expense of the citizens?
For example, lets say you owe an entity $100. If you print an extra $100 bill you pay off your debt, but unbeknownst to the entity the $100 that they lent you is now worth less
It would be bordering on insane not to use this to your advantage
However, it would be unwise to print that $100 bill and pay the debt back in full. If you do that, you indeed pay out the debt, but you also destroy your printing power, the power of
your money, and that makes no sense at all. What makes sense, though, is printing the interest on the debt. In this way you make your creditor happy as he receives interest, while you are also keeping your debt manageable without seriously devaluing your currency
Would the barter system be a good way of combating this?
If by that you mean paying the debt with some real asset, well, it may pan out, to varying degrees. But you should also take into account and thoroughly examine the possibility that this particular asset becomes dirt cheap in the future