|
|
|
|
|
|
by dredmorbius
4189 days ago
|
|
|
The question of how to compare prices over time is an interesting one in economics. There are a few answers which have been arrived at. There's Angus Maddison's history of GDPs dating to the year 1. Gregory Clark of UC Davis has compiled a price history of England dating from 1209 to 1914: http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/papers/Agprice.pd... Generally, there are commodities with fairly well-established prices and costs, including food and energy. In particular, food as a share of average wages is a reasonable proxy over time. Another argument is that money should ultimately be considered to be backed in energy units, an idea I've traced to H.G. Wells and a 1914 short story. It appears subsequently in Arthur C. Clarke, R. Buckminster Fuller, and Kim Stanley Robinson's writings. Clarke was quite the fan of Wells. |
|
|