Imperial Credits

[Longboat]

The Value of an Imperial Credit.



I was browsing through the d20 Traveller book, and it defined the buying power of a credit in US dollar terms. It said that a Credit is worth about $3 bucks US, dated 2001.

If we add in inflation (I used the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculator), then $3 buying power in April, 2001 turns to over $5 bucks in 2025. It's like $5.44-$5.50.

Dropping to the full dollar amount, we can say that a credit can about $5 worth of goods, for easy figuring.

If you want to get technical, you could waver the buying power of a credit from $5 to $6 at a world, based on tech level, distance from a major trade route, and so on.

I remember the Credit in CT equaled to the buying power of about $1. I think I got that from The Traveller Adventure.

 

[WHULorigan]

The Value of an Imperial Credit.



I was browsing through the d20 Traveller book, and it defined the buying power of a credit in US dollar terms. It said that a Credit is worth about $3 bucks US, dated 2001.

If we add in inflation (I used the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculator), then $3 buying power in April, 2001 turns to over $5 bucks in 2025. It's like $5.44-$5.50.

Dropping to the full dollar amount, we can say that a credit can about $5 worth of goods, for easy figuring.

If you want to get technical, you could waver the buying power of a credit from $5 to $6 at a world, based on tech level, distance from a major trade route, and so on.

I remember the Credit in CT equaled to the buying power of about $1. I think I got that from The Traveller Adventure.

That's correct. Handy quick reference for inflation, isn't it?

 

[GabrielGABFonseca]

Another possible value comes from the World Builder's Handbook, as it provides Traveller stats for present-day Earth (-2498 Imperial being equivalent to 2024):


In it it states that the Gross World Product is MCr73,600,000 or in other words, 73.6 trillion Credits. Earth's GDP in 2023 was 105,435 billion US dollars, as per the World Bank (couldn't find data for 2024 itself).
Therefore, if we assume both values to be correct, then the exchange ratio between the Credit (1105 Imperial) and the US Dollar (2023/2024) is roughly U$1 ≈ Cr0.698

Or in other words, Cr1 ≈ U$1.4325

 

[Condottiere]

It's been five to one for a long time.

Probably six to one, now.

 

[rinku]

Currency exchange rates only have meaning if currency is actually being exchanged.

Otherwise it's all local gold pieces.

Less flippantly, most economies in Traveller in general and in the 3I in particular are local. For the Imperial credit to be as stable as it's presented, it's can't be a floating currency like the USD. Which makes sense when the economies of, say, the Spinward Marches and the Solomani Rim are at least six months distant from the Imperial core.

For an Imperial Credit be worth the same *everywhere* there has to be a central fixing of the value, possibly against an energy standard. That is, one Credit might be defined as the worth of one kilowatt hour or something. It might even be pegged specifically to be based on solar power, since regardless of how good fusion power is in Traveller, solar still trumps it in space... and the Imperium IS space.

Or... the liquid hydrogen standard. Each Credit is defined as 1/100th dTon of unrefined fuel.

 

[Condottiere]

The way you legitimize currency and give it actual value, is by government mandating all taxes have to be paid in that.

 

[WHULorigan]

Or in other words, Cr1 ≈ U$1.4325

Or about £ 1

 

[Geir]

Another possible value comes from the World Builder's Handbook, as it provides Traveller stats for present-day Earth (-2498 Imperial being equivalent to 2024):
View attachment 4953

In it it states that the Gross World Product is MCr73,600,000 or in other words, 73.6 trillion Credits. Earth's GDP in 2023 was 105,435 billion US dollars, as per the World Bank (couldn't find data for 2024 itself).
Therefore, if we assume both values to be correct, then the exchange ratio between the Credit (1105 Imperial) and the US Dollar (2023/2024) is roughly U$1 ≈ Cr0.698

Or in other words, Cr1 ≈ U$1.4325

I did put a disclaimer in the Notes there that actual values, if not computed globally, would be lower.
Probably because of different efficiency scores (like much of African, I'm afraid).
Not % sure of the Green Travel Zone either, but that would also be more of a local problem as well.

The Cr1=US$5 is likely more accurate. (When I was a kid it was £1 = US$5, but not so much anymore. Probably wasn't even still true in 1977)
But when I asked The Google™ what a dollar was worth in 1977, it tells me $5.28, which is incorrect, as in 1977, a dollar was worth a dollar...

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

According to the "I Love Lucy" TV show in the 1950s that had an episode visiting England at that time $100 = £10. I saw part of that episode a couple of decades ago and the ratio stuck with me. The one guy wasn't afraid of his wife over spending as she only had £10 and the other told him that was equal to $100 and he took off chasing the wife to get the money back.

 

[Condottiere]

That would be nine guineas, eleven shillings.

 

[rinku]

Yeah, I think that was just script writer error. The 1800 rates were more like 5:1, but blew out to 10:1 during the US Civil War and I'm pretty sure were back down shortly after. They pegged the rate at GBP£1 = USD$4.03 during WW2, and the postwar rates were closer to parity.

Through the 1950s and 1960s it was around GBP£1 = USD$2.80.

 

[WHULorigan]

That would be nine guineas, eleven shillings.

But is that 1680s Guineas or 1730s Guineas . . .

 

[WHULorigan]

Yeah, I think that was just script writer error. The 1800 rates were more like 5:1, but blew out to 10:1 during the US Civil War and I'm pretty sure were back down shortly after. They pegged the rate at GBP£1 = USD$4.03 during WW2, and the postwar rates were closer to parity.

Through the 1950s and 1960s it was around GBP£1 = USD$2.80.

Traditionally, £1 = $4 in the beginning, as the Dollar was based on the Spanish Dollar. That is why a British "Crown" (=5s) is referred to in slang as a Dollar. The value has fluctuated since 1800, and obviously much more radically since the Pound was no longer based on the Sterling Standard of specie currency, and the Dollar went off the Gold standard for backing and the value of gold in Dollars was allowed to be determined by market forces after 1970.

 

[Condottiere]

But is that 1680s Guineas or 1730s Guineas . . .

1. The one where the extra shilling is considered the commission to the auctioneer for each guinea the lifestock fetched.

2. It sort of been explicitly described as golden guineas.

3. The dollar is supposedly based on the Spanish Dollar, which could be subdivided into eight, hence Pieces thereof.

4. I suppose it's too classy to have called those quavers or octaves, which is why it goes from quarters to nickels and dimes.

 

[Condottiere]

The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (Spanish: real de a ocho, dólar, peso duro, peso fuerte or peso), is a silver coin of approximately 38 mm (1.5 in) diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content 25.563 g (0.8219 ozt) fine silver. It was widely used as the first international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. Some countries countermarked the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency.[1]

Because the Spanish dollar was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the 16th century.[2][3][4]

The Spanish dollar was the coin upon which the original United States dollar was based (at 0.7735 troy ounces or 24.06 grams), and it remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. Many other currencies around the world, such as the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, were initially based on the Spanish dollar and other 8-real coins.[5] Most theories trace the origin of the "$" symbol, which originally had two vertical bars, to the pillars of Hercules wrapped in ribbons that appear on the reverse side of the Spanish dollar.[6]

The term peso was used in Spanish to refer to this denomination, and it became the basis for many of the currencies in the former Spanish viceroyalties, including the Argentine, Bolivian, Chilean, Colombian, Costa Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Paraguayan, Philippine, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, Salvadoran, Uruguayan, and Venezuelan pesos. Of these, "peso" remains the name of the official currency in the Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.

 

[Condottiere]

The real (English: /ɹeɪˈɑl/ Spanish: /reˈal/) (meaning: "royal", plural: reales) was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries after the mid-14th century.[1] It underwent several changes in value relative to other units throughout its lifetime until it was replaced by the peseta in 1868. The most common denomination for the currency was the silver eight-real Spanish dollar (Real de a 8) or peso which was used throughout Europe, America and Asia during the height of the Spanish Empire.


We could add real, being one eighth of a dollar.

You can then use that to pay out your kids' allowance, letting them know the real value of a dollar.

 

[WHULorigan]

I suppose it's too classy to have called those quavers or octaves, which is why it goes from quarters to nickels and dimes.

And the 5¢ (and a later discontinued 3¢) were only made of nickel from the mid-19th Century onwards . Prior to that the 5¢ coin was called the half-dime.

The original metric American denominational values (each ten times the previous) were:

Mills
Cents
Di(s)mes
Dollars
Eagles

Eagles and Dollars were divided into halves and quarters, Dimes and Cents into halves.

 

[Condottiere]

I did a count once, what denomination scaling was the most efficient.

It appears to be two, four, and five.

Money laundering concerns appear to have capped that at the one hundred dollar greenback.

The Romans counted large amounts in talents.

We could count ours in briefcases and cereal boxes.


Federal agents arrested 44 people on Thursday, including five New Jersey politicians and five rabbis, as part of an investigation into corruption, organ sales, and bank fraud. One of the many shady deals involved the passing of $97,000 in cash stuffed into an Apple Jacks cereal box. How much U.S. currency can you fit into an Apple Jacks box?

$9,050,000. In order to stuff that much money into a box of Apple Jacks, you’d have to use a mix of high-denomination bills that have been taken out of circulation and a 21.7-ounce family-sized package. That calculation is based on three assumptions: 1) that the box, which is 321 cubic inches, could hold 4,658 bills, each of which is 6.14 by 2.61 by 0.0043 inches; 2) that you would lose no space to air or the unavoidable folding of bills; and 3) that you have access to all of the highest-denomination bills currently in circulation.

The highest-denomination bill ever available to the public was the $10,000 note, which the Bureau of Engraving and Printing stopped producing in 1945—along with $5,000, $1,000, and $500 bills. (There were also $100,000 notes printed in 1934 and 1935, but they were only issued to the Federal Reserve Banks as part of the government’s buyout of banks’ gold supplies.) If you could fill up your Apple Jacks box with $10,000 bills, you’d have $46,580,000. But the Federal Reserve began taking the high-denomination bills out of circulation in 1969, and as of May 30, 2009, there were only 336 of the $10,000 bills left on the market. Once you put all those into your cereal box, you’d have to get the 342 remaining $5,000 bills, and then finish up with some of the 165,372 $1,000 bills still being used. That gets you the total of $9,050,000 listed above.

If you did stuff a cereal box with rare bills, its actual value would far exceed the face value of the notes. Collectors will pay anything from $40,000 to $140,000 for an authentic $10,000 bill at auction, depending on the bill’s condition. The $5,000 notes are worth between $20,000 and $100,000, and the $1,000 bills between $1,500 and $5,000. So a currency enthusiast with an unlimited bankroll might spend as much as $101,140,000 for your 21.7-ounce box full of cash.

All of these numbers assume the current dimensions of U.S. bills. Prior to 1928, the bills were more than an inch longer and about two-fifths of an inch wider. If you used the old bills, you could fit 36 percent fewer of them in the box. That loss in value might be offset, to some degree, by the fact that these older bills are worth more to collectors.

Let’s say you don’t have access to rare bills or oversized boxes of Apple Jacks. If you used $100 notes and a 17-ounce box—the largest carried by many supermarkets—then the most cash you could fit would be $436,500. To squeeze $97,000 into the 17-ounce box, you couldn’t use anything smaller than $50 bills. A standard-size box of Kellogg’s Apple Jacks could hold just $87,300 worth $20 bills.

Until 2007, General Mills was the brand of choice for smuggling cash. The biggest box of Cheerios in most grocery stores used to be 20 ounces as opposed to its 17-ounce Kellogg’s counterparts. But the cereal giant has recently shrunk its packaging, while holding prices steady, to combat increased grain prices. Embezzlers, beware: Kellogg’s is now testing a slightly smaller box that holds the same amount of cereal.

BY BRIAN PALMER
JULY 24, 2009 4:52 PM

 

[rinku]

Australia discarded 1 and 2 cent pieces ages ago (checks... 1992).

I wish Japan would ditch the 1 yen coin. Could not get rid of the damn things quickly enough when we were there last year and I still have a handful.

 

[Condottiere]

Digital cash will eventually replace physical coins and notes.

Hopefully, not soon.

Hard to make a mistake with more than a couple of coins or notes.

Try that with decimal points.