Economy, currency etc.

[DwemerInSpace]

I've always thought there must be some magic on Septims to keep their inflation rate so low for so many eons!
You can find them in ancient crypts and ruins, and they still have the same recognized value!

[Right-Hand-Of-Sithis]

I've always thought there must be some magic on Septims to keep their inflation rate so low for so many eons!
You can find them in ancient crypts and ruins, and they still have the same recognized value!

Interesting. I'm not sure, but did the Roman Economy (which, I believe, pumped out coins everywhere with little restriction other than resources) undergo inflation and deflation?

[CBR JGWRR]

Not necessarily constant value, for example, while the septim remains constant, how many septims it would take to buy any given thing might vary. Just because the coin remains the same coin, doesn't mean it's value has to be the same.

Though it is useful if it does...

[Right-Hand-Of-Sithis]

Console commands F*** with the economy...

[CBR JGWRR]

Yeah... player.additem f 1000000...

[Right-Hand-Of-Sithis]

Yeah... player.additem f 1000000...

Sounds like the GFC, money coming out of nowhere.

[CBR JGWRR]

Yeah... player.additem f 1000000...

Sounds like the GFC, money coming out of nowhere.

Yeah...

[Masked Pillow]

It could be said that the prices of food and resources has risen exponentially over the 4th Era. In Oblivion, the prices of bread and apples were set at 1 Septim, whereas in Skyrim bread is priced at 2 Septims, and apples 3. It also must be noted that merchants have the ability to set their own prices, so one could easily find themselves paying up to 7 Septims for an apple.
Of course, this could simply be evidence that food resources are harder to come by in frozen wastes of the north, explaining the 200% increase in the price of apples, though wheat grows in abundance in the more fertile holds of Skyrim, so there should be no reason for the 100% increase in the prices of bread, as compared to Cyrodiil.

[DwemerInSpace]

Interesting. I'm not sure, but did the Roman Economy (which, I believe, pumped out coins everywhere with little restriction other than resources) undergo inflation and deflation?

The Roman Empire's currency had inflation, but it was much slower IIRC.

However, unlike modern Capitalist currency systems and unlike in Tamriel, Rome's currency simply was not used for as many things and didn't have as much universal recognition of value. In fact, currency in TES (and D&D, etc) has always been out of place for pre-industrial medieval-ish settings.

Hidden:

If you really want to get into it, physical currency was first invented in "the West" as a way of paying soldiers. Common folk were obliged to use this currency for taxes, and thus had to find ways of getting it from soldiers. This is essentially what gave it its value. The form of currency we think of, and likewise how Septims seem to work in TES, is fiat money, which replaced either the older debt structures created by Feudalism or previously commodity-backed money used in early Capitalism. Obviously, it would be pretty pointless to barter with non-elite denizens in a medieval-esque world without anarchronistic standardized money, which is why "Septims" or "gold" are an acceptable break from reality IMO.