25,910 years later : Credit Value in Star Wars

[Heath Valhoun]

1 credit is $2.10
20 years, $0.50 inflation (1=1.50 now) -A dollar in 2000 is worth $1.51 in 2020

1 credit is $2.10
20 years, $0.50 inflation (1=1.50 now)

So, 2020 1$ is $1.50 in 2040
That’s $2.50 every 100 years.
That’s $25 every 1000 years
So 26,000 years is $25 x 26, is $650

1 credit is $2.10,
SO 650 dollars divided by 2.10 dollars = 310 Credits (Rounded up)


Chaos Time: 858 ABY….
Credits made in: 25,053 BBY

So,

25,053 Years Before Battle Yavin -Credits created
PLUS
858 After Yavin -Current Chaos Year

Equals:

25,910 years since the creation of credits….which is the current time in Chaos
If 25,910 is rounded to 26,000....
A chaos time credit is roughly 310 credits.

 

[Captain Jordan]

Why would the same credit stay around when the governing bodies haven't persisted, though? With 800+ years since then, including 400 years of plague-induced darkness and isolation of some parts of the galaxy, and completely new powers (even if they bear old names) around now, I doubt they'd still be using the same currency as the canon GR did at its height.

It'd be like expecting a Spanish doubloon to still be in use today. A GR-era credit might have value as an antique or curiosity, if it's not just pure junk.

 

[Kiff Brayde]

The current Galactic Standard Credit (GSC) is not the same as Republic or Imperial credit used during the movies.

And yeah, while that old credit may not be worth anything as currency, it probably has a high antique value and therefore intrinsic value.

 

[Kiff Brayde]

And I want to add that inflation is influenced by multiple factors and isn't some fixed rate, making it extremely variable. Given the nature and relative unknown parameters of the star wars economy, you can't really accurately predict any sort of inflation because inflation can't really be predicted in a sense.

 

[Heath Valhoun]

Captain Jordan
Kiff Brayde

The Republic/Imperial Credit will absolutely still be around.


* Those credits had been around for 25,000 years, spanning over three major governments and hundreds of planets. The 850 years this "new credit" has been around is far from enough time for it to become the new standard. It'd take thousands of years to replace a currency on the scale of the Star Wars Galaxy.

*Beyond that, the new credits are the old credits from what I understand. As a canon link, that submission has The Galactic Credit Standard Linked. A canon link means it's a canon item, not that it's based off a canon item. This is the Galactic Credit Standard according to wookieepedia:

""The Galactic Credit Standard, simply called a credit or abbreviated to cred, colloquially referred to as Republic Dataries, and later known as the Imperial Credit, was the main currency in use in the galaxy since the time of the Galactic Republic.""
​

As for inflation, I know it varies. I used the U.S. Average over 20 years to give a basic idea of how credits may lose value. It's not supposed to be exact.

 

[Fatty]

False. The submission explicitly says it is new. It is functionally the same as far as appearances and standardization but backed by current resources in a way old credits aren't.

The credit was never universal either, look no further than Tattooine in TPM. So it was never in constant use by everyone.

This isn't even to mention the literal 400 year apocalypse that would have crashed any galactic economy to 0 worth. Only in the last few decades have currencies been revived with renewed worth, essentially starting at square one with no inflation needed to be considered.

Lastly, stop trying to logic an economy that doesn't exist on Chaos. The credit is worth exactly as much as the writer needs it to be worth at any given moment, because no one keeps track of it or cares enough to even begin to try.

 

[AMCO]

As others have said before, inflation isn't some guaranteed process derived from predictable variables but a product of how we organise our economies. Given the simple fact that I can't ever recall seeing inflation mentioned in Star Wars it seems less presumptuous to assume that its value has either remained more or less in financial stasis or more likely has waxed and waned with successive governments and administrations.

Plus, you know, replacing an entire currency because it's denominations are too large is downright silly if the economy is otherwise functional; people will either deal with it or you could simply convert it into lower denominations by, IDK, stating that 10 Old Credits™ is worth 1 New Credits™, that you will be issuing ten times less of 'em to compensate, and that anyone is free to make the switch over a grace period of, say, ten years.

Finally, and most importantly, if professional writers don't bother with SW inflation why on earth should we? It's confusing and quite frankly unfun.

(Sidenote: One USD is worth 104.98 Japanese Yen and yet both economies and their peoples deal with it just fine. There is no objectively superior value for denominations, especially in a digital society where one doesn't have mental calculus for every transaction.)

Edit: Most importantly of all, the Star Wars economy doesn't make any sense. A state of the art warship able to subjugate entire planets costs the same as about 22 million sandwiches. If the entire Coruscanti population were willing to sacrifice the equivalent of a sandwich each they could build no less than 44.666 Star Destroyers for their defence fleet, not including crew, fuel & other supplies, and Starfighters/vehicles.

 

[Heath Valhoun]

Fatty
AMCO

I am not sure why there's so much resistance to this. It isn't an official thing...it was for fun. That being said, I'm going to defend these calculations because It took quite a while to do.


First off...I already said it's a basic idea of the inflation because inflation changes. I said it's the past 20 years. In 20 years, the U.S. dollar increased to 1.50 from 1.00

Secondly....Fatty has helped to prove my point. It was never universal, therefore the new currency isn't a Galactic Standard. It would take a long time to make it a standard currency, and even then, many planets won't use it. Logistically, it's impossible. Hundreds of planets, billions of beings, all using Imperial credits. The Imperial credits would still be common. It's like saying The U.S. will convert to the Imperial system. We tried, the citizens resisted and thus we still use our own system.

Thirdly...A 400-year virus would crash an economy, yes. Which is why there would be a TON of Imperial credits left, and thus the inflation would skyrocket. Fewer people but more credits = More credits per person.

Fourthly...To address Adrian specifically, the inflation calculation was for fun. It's not a submission, it's just a calculation. I do plan to make an Elysium Credit for The Elysium Empire that will be used in our territory, and these stats will be brought up, but they are just for flavor. Why did the Elysium Empire make a new currency, what's its' value, etc.

Finally, I agree that it's an RP site and a user uses credits for whatever they need. That's cool, and again...these calculations were for fun. So chill.


Anyways, Happy RPing

 

[Kiff Brayde]

Heath Valhoun

• The current galactic standard credit has been in use for less than a decade if you read the description/history of the submission.
• Your equation for inflation does not take into consideration the various events that have affected the value of credits; wars, changes of regime, an apocalypse followed by a 400-year period of pretty much complete galactic isolation, etc. etc.
• During the time of the Republic, there were many different currencies (see Episode 1, where Watto doesn't take Republic Credits). This is exacerbated after the fall of the Empire, and you can see that in the Mandalorian -- Imperial Credits are virtually worthless, and Mando would rather take Mon Calamari flan than imperial credits.
• During the said 400-year period, there was no bank or any central currency system. Planets for the most part used their own currency, and so the galactic standard credit really isn't used that much.
• The new Galactic Standard Credit was reissued by the Intergalactic Banking Clan and is as of now accepted currency in pretty much all major factions besides probably the Sith Empire and the Bryn'adul (but with them being genocidal freaks, economy is pretty much trash anyways) and in most major factions where the GSC is not legal tender or the national currency, it's still accepted and can be converted.
• Inflation isn't dependent on how many people per currency there is, either?
• Inflation doesn't automatically mean a currency is devalued -- in many situations, prices and wages inflate alongside a currency's inflation. When inflation becomes actually 'bad' is when it's hyperinflation and outpaces prices and wages
• The math you used to calculate the inflation is wrong as well, so retry on that. Currency never inflates at a fixed rate, especially in a galaxy with so much turmoil as the star wars galaxy.

Basically, the rebute of your argument boils down to this: the credit of the Republic and Empire is not used anymore anyway, so the galaxy's "standard credit" isn't some 30,000 year old relic.

 

[Fatty]

Heath Valhoun if it's for fun it would be wise in the future to preface it as such, rather than present it as fact, I was putting up resistance because I thought it was silly to attempt to argue for a standard on a site that will never use it.

Secondly, your calculations do not take into account that currency changes. Realistically, though it might be called the same, the ancient credit will not have persisted to this point as a matter of fact, so calculating its inflation is like trying to figure out what the Roman Republic's currency would be worth today in comparison to the Euro. It just doesn't work that way. The fact that the republic credit isn't recognize on every world is further credence that it is not possible that the ancient credit is the same as the one in the prequel films, and not the same as the one in use on the site.

Also, I'm pretty sure any left over currency from bygone eras such as the Imperial Credit is going to worth the same amount as say... Chinese Qin Dynasty coins: antiques whose only worth is its oldness and the materials used to make them. It is much more likely that the planetary economies will just use their own independent form of currency, or continue to use the Imperial currency but in ways that would inevitable differentiate it from the other isolated worlds after 400 years of Darkness.

In other words, the ancient credit is just one form of currency, and it isn't the same as the forms that currently exist or existed throughout history.

 

[Heath Valhoun]

Kiff Brayde

For the last time: I know Inflation and Currency values change. I simply used the last 20 years as a basis.

This isn't an official guide, it isn't a submission of how much credits are worth, it isn't canon or site-canon. It's literally a harmless article that is for fun to show a VERY GENERAL idea of how much an Imperial Credit would be worth in the current timeline.

When the new credit was brought into question, I brought up two things:

*There is no way that it could be widespread yet. Planets that adopted their own currency would refuse to use a foreign currency in some cases. Beyond that, it'd take forever to to distribute the new credits or eliminate imperial credits. Imagine Europe using the U.S. Dollar. Every citizen would have to trade in their Euros, Deutschmarks, etc, and use dollars. Many would refuse. Even if they were compliant, it'd take a ridiculous amount of time to complete.

*There's a canon link to Standard Galactic Credits. I thought the canon link meant it's a canon item that users can now use here...that's how it reads to me, but as Fatty pointed out, I was wrong, thus that's invalid.





Fatty

Just saw your last post as I finished writing this. You're fine, I thought it'd be obvious that this isn't official because it's not a submission nor is it in roleplay discussion, but my apologies for not making that clear.

 

[Torrack Torrackstur]

Honestly that would be a meme if this somehow happened.