Re: (TFT) Jobs table: 100,000 simulated soldiers and farmers

[Jay Carlisle <maou.tsaou@gmail.com>]

On Wednesday, September 21, 2011,  CofDublin wrote:

> Well, enough rarity also  helps... regardless of whether or not that
> actually makes its production  labor intensive. You also have the issue
where you
> can have a system where  money gets its value from the stamp of approval
on
> it, not from any  inherent properties.... in which case its given
arbitrary
> value (usually  actually just a percent, based upon total amount of a
given
> coin, of the total  wealth of a nation valued non-monetarily).
> When money got its start in Lydia in the 600s BCE, the stamp of approval
> was just a way to certify its purity. This was enabled by the discovery
> that, by using schist (touchstone), one could see the purity of gold and
> precious metal alloys. This made it easy to detect forgeries. It gave
trade a
> boost, much like every good innovation in the ability to spend money  to
this
> day. That's why it caught on & spread to so many places.
>

I forgot to mention thanks for the info on touchstone.
Schist as I understand it is the actual ore bearing rock.
As for the trites themselves the markings symbolized that this bullion was
issued by the state for state business.
Merchants and traders could, and did, continue to use bullion for their
business but taxes and similar transactions with the state could only be
conducted with state issued coin.
This allowed for seigniorage profits for the state where the cost of
production is less than the issued value and profits were further increased
by debasement with silver and copper alloyed to the naturally occurring
electrum.
This debasement allowed the Greeks to step in with a more trustworthy silver
coin that facilitated trade between states while increasing seigniorage
profit due to silvers lower expense.
Or something like that.
Anyway, the touchstone bit was a niffty little wrinkle I'd missed so far so
thanks again.
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