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Old 04-22-2017, 02:59 PM   #11
RyanW
 
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

One post apocalypse setting I ran used water credits (nicknamed Dollarados by my players, since the game took place on the Colorado Plateau), issued by the regional authority. I'm sure Marx would have something to say about the control of the means of purification.
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Old 04-22-2017, 03:32 PM   #12
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

In the post-apoc fiction I read in my youth, gold was a dangerous medium of exchange because it tended to become radioactive.
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Old 04-22-2017, 04:18 PM   #13
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalillama View Post
Also a valid point; how long after the apocalypse are we talking here?If it's less than a couple decades there probably won't be any currency at all.
I intended this thread to be an open conversation, you can speculate on any after the end scenario you like and try to determine what it's economy might look like.

What I think is realistic for the majority of scenarios is that immediately after the crisis an informal barter system starts with gold just one of many traded goods. As time passed the perceived value of gold would increase until it became effectively the first currency. There might be specific scenarios where a particular product makes more sense as currency like: clean water, which was mentioned in another post. Overall I think gold is the most likely.
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Old 04-22-2017, 04:35 PM   #14
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

What about Bitcoins as currency? If a disease wipes out 99.9% of humanity but most infrastructure is left intact could Bitcoin become the dominant method of exchange?
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Old 04-22-2017, 05:16 PM   #15
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

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Originally Posted by Boomerang View Post
What about Bitcoins as currency? If a disease wipes out 99.9% of humanity but most infrastructure is left intact could Bitcoin become the dominant method of exchange?
No. It couldn't.
ETA:
Leaving aside the serious problems inherent in the bitcoin model that make it unsustainable in the long run, digital infrastructure wouldn't stay intact very long in such a scenario, because there'd be nobody to do maintenance, run generating plants, etc.

Last edited by Dalillama; 04-22-2017 at 05:27 PM.
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Old 04-22-2017, 10:57 PM   #16
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

So "no" to Bitcoin.

What about salt?
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Old 04-23-2017, 01:59 AM   #17
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

Nope. Consumables make very bad currency.
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Old 04-23-2017, 02:08 AM   #18
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Money requires much more societal infrastructure and stability than I normally connect with post apocalyptic settings.
t.
But Fallout, Gamma World and Hiero do have that much stable infrastructure. Not every post-apocalypse setting is immediately post-apocalypse.
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Old 04-23-2017, 03:59 AM   #19
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

i found this quite useful
HTML Code:
http://www.toptenz.net/10-post-apocalyptic-currencies-more-valuable-than-gold.php
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Old 04-23-2017, 06:58 AM   #20
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Default Re: Post Apocalyptic Economics

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gadget View Post
i found this quite useful
HTML Code:
http://www.toptenz.net/10-post-apocalyptic-currencies-more-valuable-than-gold.php
They seem to not understand the difference in a currency and a barter good.
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