Theory: Inflation in the wizard economy

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 92969

I was out almost all day yesterday, so here's a late rejoinder:

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

> A fair price for basic muggle binoculars is about $50. For a pair 
that
> has zoom, instant replay, slow motion, and closed caption, $75 
doesn't
> seem that unreasonable relative to $50 for a common pair.
> 
> True you may be able to get binoculars cheaper than $50, but not 
very
> good ones, and TOP quality brand name muggle binocular would run
> closer to $100.

Alshain: You make several good points, Steve, but at least when it 
comes to wands and omnioculars, I don't think the Muggle-world 
analogy holds because the Wizarding World will value things 
differently. A wand in the Muggle world is a stick of wood with a 
feather inside, as you quite correctly point out. But if anyone 
expects the wands they buy from Alivan's or The Wand Shop to work, 
even in Lord Voldemort's hands, they're seriously deluded. Pure and 
simple, they're toys. A wand in the Potter world is a hand-made, 
unique magical instrument for channelling and amplifying a witch or 
wizard's inner magic, with a core of a magical substance difficult to 
obtain. Mr Ollivander says he was nearly gored to death when plucking 
the unicorn hair inside Cedric's wand. 

Omnioculars, OTOH, may well be mass-produced in a house-elf sweatshop 
somewhere, and the magic inside them doesn't need to be all that 
advanced. In comparison to wands, they're the toys. I'm afraid I 
don't buy the idea that a pair of omnioculars is worth as much as a 
wand. The one thing that would work against this is that wands are a 
necessity (wonder if wand prices are ministry-subsidized?), and 
omnioculars are a luxury item. Sherrie made a good point about the 
prices at the World Cup probably being inflated, but the other thing 
about merchandise sold at these kinds of places is that quality 
doesn't necessarily follow with the price.

Steve: 
> 1 Basic Fireworks Blaze Box (OoP) = G5 = $37.50
> 
> 1 Deflagration Deluxe (OoP) = G20 = $150.00
> 
> Nothing there seems that far out of a realistic price range.
> 

Alshain: The thing that feels a bit off about the fireworks is that I 
don't see boarding school students having this much pocket money (and 
20 Galleons for a box of even quite advanced fireworks seems way 
overpriced to me -- you could get two wands for that amount.) At 
least hereabouts, the price of amateur fireworks went drastically 
downwards during the nineties (you need to be a pyrotechnician in 
order to get the really heavy stuff, I believe), and 120 Euro would 
buy more fireworks than you could burn during one New Year's Eve. The 
twins bet 37 Galleons, 15 Sickles and 3 Knuts in GoF -- their 
combined savings of a lifetime. Of course they're poorer than most 
and probably heavy spenders as well (keeping the joke-shop industry 
in business), so it doesn't have to mean anything.

And a week when you come up with something which Steve likes isn't a 
complete waste of time. ;-)

Alshain