Seven Kingdoms money compared to ours?

[Ciazio]

<snip>

Drawing a conclusion, the rise of the tournament prizes and prices in general (we saw how much armor, food, horse and boat passage costed in D&E) in a medieval society, is caused only by wars, famines or growing population? Just asking, I'm truly curious.

But... in D&E times there have been rebellions (2 Blackfyres' and 1 Greygoy's) and a hot summer, whilst in AGOT there where no rebellions or drought.

Then, why are the prices and prizes so high in AGOT?

[Gradimir]

Then, why are the prices and prizes so high in AGOT?

George probably didn't paid too much attention to economical aspect of books...

[Ciazio]

George probably didn't paid too much attention to economical aspect of books...

Yeah, I do agree with you. I was trying to figure out a reasonable explanation :cool4:

[AzureOwl]

In a time when gold is gold, inflation is based upon population. Economics are purely Malthusian. When a modern currency is floated on the world market it is not linked to a commodity. Inflation is based upon both monetary policy and volatility in the government. However, in a commodity linked economy (gold and silver) inflation is based upon population and the division of commodities among them (gold and silver and food). When there is famine, disease, and war inflation follows because of the scarcity of markets and potentially the scarcity of food, etc. But when the crisis ends due to the reduced population there is more commodities to spread among the lowered population and there is deflation and the increase in living standards. As the population grows the limited resources are again stretched and prices increase accordingly unless there is a technological breakthrough or an abnormally large harvest.

Not necessarily. When the currency is linked to gold and silver, the purchasing power of the coins is also linked to the supply of the metal. The discovery of a large silver mine for example, could and did lead to a rise in inflation. If the available supply of precious metals dries out it could lead to a severe monetary contraction.

Look at what happened when the silver of the Americas started flooding Europe, for example.

[SeanF]

Drawing a conclusion, the rise of the tournament prizes and prices in general (we saw how much armor, food, horse and boat passage costed in D&E) in a medieval society, is caused only by wars, famines or growing population? Just asking, I'm truly curious.

But... in D&E times there have been rebellions (2 Blackfyres' and 1 Greygoy's) and a hot summer, whilst in AGOT there where no rebellions or drought.

Then, why are the prices and prizes so high in AGOT?

There was Balon Greyjoy's rebellion. Putting that down would have been expensive, but I would have thought that Greyjoy would have had a massive fine imposed on him at the end of it.

So, where did all the money go? Typically, warfare generated huge debts for medieval government, but there's no real evidence for Robert waging war. Extravagance at King's Landing wouldn't cause a debt of 6m dragons; perhaps rampant corruption under LF. There's certainly evidence of money being spent on non-existent members of staff. Perhaps the terms of borrowing from the Lannisters, the Faith, and the Iron Bank were very onerous, with high interest rates being compounded each year.

Perhaps, families like the Lannisters, and others , were just siphoning off income from Crown lands, and cheating the Royal Treasury over taxes.

[Ciazio]

There was Balon Greyjoy's rebellion.

Right, I forgot. Alas, that was 8 years (9?) before the beginning of AGOT, whilst Dagon's rebellion was took place during the D&E saga. Anyway, I'm still inclined to think that there have been some sort of price rising in the last 100 years.