Theory: Inflation in the wizard economy

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 92884

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "alshainofthenorth" 
<alshainofthenorth at y...> wrote:

> 
> A discussion of the price of Harry's wand and the pairs of 
> Omnioculars he bought at the Quidditch world cup gave me a 
sudden 
> brainstorm. Surely a wand is worth more than a pair of 
Omnioculars, 
> people reasoned. Well, what do we call it in the Muggle world 
when 
> the same nominal amount of money buys less than it did three 
years 
> ago? Yup, *inflation*. 
> 
Sue B: Chuckle! What a fascinating theory! And why not, since 
inflation is the bane of the rest of the world? When we were first 
told about the wizard economy in the first book, the impression I 
got was that the Galleon was worth quite a lot, certainly more 
than the pound sterling, and Percy makes a 10 Galleon bet with 
his girlfriend in PoA which he can't afford to pay, yet by OoP, the 
Weasley twins are selling their joke goods like hotcakes, for - 
what, 25 Galleons on the average? 

The mind boggles at the kind of investments you could make in 
the WW: "Darling, I've just put all our money into Madam Malkin's 
Robes Incorporated..."

I wouldn't count on Fudge getting the better of the goblins, 
though; they're not dumb! And I'd be prepared to bet they run the 
WW economy, through Gringotts Bank. Good on them, too, 
considering the way they're treated by the wizards.