"Deer" is always in price

Dragons grew up and do not obey the mother, the demon swam the sea in a barrel, and the king of the man’s burned alive - the first episode of the long -awaited fifth season of the series “Game of Thrones” finally released. And again became the object of close attention of economists

Iron Bank is the largest creditor in the “Game of Thrones”, and “Deer” is a common coin
The series first appeared on the screens in 2011 and then made a splash: fantasy was not shot for children, as usual, but for adults - with violence, sex and political intrigues. In the new season they did not refuse traditions.

The gloomy world of “Game of Thrones” was created on the model of the European Middle Ages, but with magic and dragons. Unlike another popular fairy -tale epic - Tolkienovsky “Lord of the Rings” - George Martin, the author of the cycle of the novels “The Song of Ice and the Flame”, according to which the series was shot, described not only how his heroes are fighting and loved, but also how they make their living. He described in such detail that economists on the topic of “Game of Thrones” and the world of her heroes have already published several curious essays.

Winter and democracy are the most extensive cycle of publications on the conditional topic “Economics in the books of George Martin” belongs to Per Matthew Iglesias, an economic journalist and writer - you can find it on the Slate portal. Among other things, Iglesias explained regional imbalances in the "Game of Thrones".

Spectators remember that in the south of Westeros, an invented continent in Martin’s saga, there is a royal harbor, the capital of the seven kingdoms. There is a sea, a warm climate, but a huge property inequality - the royal guardsman Jaime Lannister in gold armor and a beggar in rags can walk along one street.

But the further to the north, the less the gap between the rich and the poor. True, the beggars do not disappear anywhere, and the northern dynasty of the Stark, whose motto is “winter close”, is not as rich and influential as southerners of Lannisters, and instead of cloaks with golden skins embroidered with golden arms. And if you advance north, behind the wall (a cyclopic structure dividing the continent into two parts - the shaft of Adrian on steroids), then the king of the wild mans from jewelry we will see only a buckle on a cloak.

Iglesias claims: the economy of the seven kingdoms is Maltese, that is, based on agriculture. Therefore, the one who owns a large amount of land and who has this land more fertile. In the north, it is much colder, the crops are lower, so he receives less taxes from his possessions than southern landowners. At the same time, cold weather increases mortality among the common people, there is a shortage of labor - therefore, old people have to pay more workers. It also reduces property stratification.

The low level of inequality in the north means that the local rulers are not too rich regarding the rest of the people. Therefore, it is more difficult for them to buy the loyalty of the population or suppress the rebellion by military force, which is also worth the money - which means that they cannot always make political decisions alone. If in the south, in the royal harbor, the ruling dynasty simply prescribes the successor when the king is dying, then at the opposite end of the continent of the Lord of the Northern and River Lands, they resort to the election procedure - so Robb Stark becomes the king.

The business cycle in the country of knights American historian Ken Mondshain wrote the essay “Found of the Likha in Westeros”-about the prices of George Martin. In his novel “The Summary Knight” on one silver “Deer” (the name of a small coin) you can only have a bite in the tavern, and in the novel “Game of Thrones”, the action of which takes place a century later, during the Civil War, for the same money the heroes buy a whole rage (36.3 l) of grains. Other goods are cheaper, although, it would seem, in 100 years - and even taking into account the war - inflation should accumulate such that the “deer” would have depreciated. For comparison: the United States in the 19th century also survived the civil war, and the dollar doubled.

But Mondshain claims: there is no economic mistake here - and suggests remembering how the world works in the tale of Martin. In Westeros, the Winter-Sveto-Society cycle can last years, and the change of seasons occurs unpredictably. One day winter lasted six years. The series begins at the end of the long summer season - it lasted 10 calendar years.

The action of the "boundary knight" takes place in the spring, when the reserves made for the winter have already been eaten, some cereals and vegetables have grown, but the reserves have not yet accumulated. And the “Game of Thrones” begins at the end of the 10-year summer, when the barns are breaking from stocks. This explains the price fluctuations unusual for us.

Jaime Lannister in golden armor is one of the richest people in Westeros

The massacre as the rational king of the North Robb Stark promised to marry the ugly daughter of Lord Frey in exchange for military assistance, but later changed his mind, falling in love with the dark -skinned southerner of Talisa - Una Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin, played in the series.

As a result, the ugly daughter was given instead of the king himself for his uncle. The king considered the question closed, but Lord Frey was offended. At the wedding, he ordered his people to kill Robb Stark and his associates. The event was called a red wedding for rivers of blood, and the massacre on the screen was shown so realistic that videos with frightened viewers became YouTube hits.

In the series of Lord Frey, many reasons prompted the massacre, but Matthew Iglesias believes that revenge in such a situation was in itself a completely rational strategy. The fact is that in the Middle Ages, unlike our time, institutions such as law, courts, police, law and international treaties were almost absent. The agreements in business and politics were really fixed only by family ties. The psychological mechanism is clear - no one wants to go war or not to ship the goods, for example, to the husband of his own daughter.

When a legal society appeared, marriage ceased to be controlled for economic reasons, and it turned from a business giving into a variety of entertainment-romantic love, a marriage by love. This process is disassembled in detail, in particular, in the report of a group of economists from the Canadian University of Alberta and the National University of Singapore - "Should love to kill family firms?" (Must Love Kill the Family Firm?).

A society, where family ties play the role of the Civil Code, is very carefully monitors dynastic marriages. Do I need a king who first refused to marry my daughter? Will he be fair with me if he does not become my relative? Perhaps the Lord Frey asked himself such questions, and we now know what the answers he found.

The economists did not limit the listed problems. Matthew Iglesias also analyzed the structure of the state of the Lannisters dynasty (gold mines, debt receipts of the royal family) and proved that, contrary to widespread opinion, not the richest family in Westeros. Ken Mondshain, in turn, did a lot of work to make sure: in the world of Game of Thrones, debt receipts are widespread, although they are rarely mentioned in Martin’s novels. Therefore, there must inevitably exist a foreign exchange market and short sales. Economists Matthew McCafrey and Carmen Elena Dorobets wrote a report on inflation in the seven kingdoms and business schemes of the royal treasurer of Petir Baleish nicknamed the Mizanitsa.

The night patrol and army of Stannis Baratheon are preparing to burn the King of the Mans percent for the astronaut. Economic analysis of non -existent worlds was not invented yesterday. Last fall, we stared “Interstellar”, where the hero Matthew McConahi travels on a spaceship through a “black hole”. For him, in accordance with the theory of relativity, the journey lasts a couple of years, while almost a century has passed on Earth during this time. In one of the episodes for two of his personal hours, 23 years fly in space on Earth. And if so, then in addition to fulfilling the task of salvation of mankind, which is stated in the film, astronauts could also make good money. Moreover, if we assume that interstellar trips are real. You can, for example, just put money on the bank account by flying away. Now, say, in the Russian Federation the average rate for long -term dollar deposits for individuals is about 5 %. For 100 years, the contribution will increase by about 130 times. For the first time in 1978, the future Nobel laureate in economics Paul Krugman in the work “Theory of Interstellar Trade” wrote about this method of enrichment.

According to the star account in December 2015, the seventh episode of the Star Wars saga was released-the economists reached it too. According to the calculations of the Centivers, to build a death star - a giant spacecraft from a movie epic - you need a quadrillion of tons of steel costs about $ 852 quadrillion (43 sequestral rubles), which is 13,000 times higher than the volume of the entire world economy.

Despite the gigantic quantities, in the world of Star Wars the construction of such a structure is really to finance. To do this, you need to collect only $ 8,000 (approximately 400 thousand rubles) of tax from each resident of the planet Coruscant, the capital of the Evil Empire, on which about trillion humanoids lives, writes Chris Taylor in the book "Like" Star Wars "conquered the Universe." And if the empire applies Vuki's slave labor at the construction site, then he will also be able to reduce the tax burden of ordinary Coruscants.

Photo: Helen Sloan, Nick Briggs/HBO, AWOIIAF.Westeros.org, Tom Maringer, Techfleece.com/hbo