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Exploring finances in times of the Viking Age, Roman Empire, and Alexander the Great.

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Category: comparison data

February 8, 2020February 8, 2020comparison data, U.S. Civil War

Prices of slaves on the eastern shore of Maryland before the Civil War.

Watched the uplifting and depressing movie Harriet last night. Second time I’ve seen it. Fabulous tale about the efforts of Harriet Tubman […]

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019comparison data, Other eras, U.S. Civil War

Pay rate for privates in each of America’s wars

Pay for American soldiers during each major war is provided by We Are the Mighty. Their article, This is how much troops […]

October 2, 2018October 1, 2018comparison data, Middle Ages

Wages for crew on Christopher Columbus’ ships.

Wages paid to the crew and a current understanding of crew list for Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas is provided […]

October 1, 2018comparison data, Middle Ages

Cost and time to cross the Atlantic has dropped by more than 90% in the last 500 years.

Transatlantic travel time has dropped radically in the last 500 years.  Time to transit the Atlantic has dropped about 99% and cost […]

October 26, 2017comparison data, Other eras

What was the price of gold in 1522 in relation to today’s dollar?

Previous post explored a comment by Eric Metaxas in his book, Martin Luther, The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, […]

September 21, 2017December 22, 2017comparison data, Viking Era

What is a cow worth today? That provides a framework for valuation in ancient times.

Comparing prices and values over a long period of time is tough to do. For example, how can we compare the cost […]

June 2, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great, comparison data

Total wealth held by American households as reference point for ancient finances

Here is another point of reference I’ll use for my discussion of ancient finances. The Wall Street Journal reported on 6/7/16:  Americans’ […]

June 1, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great, comparison data

Stock market capitalization as reference point for ancient finances

I am building some reference points for my ongoing learning about ancient finances. (If you couldn’t tell, I’m have a lot of […]

June 1, 2017January 1, 2018Alexander the Great, comparison data

So, how can we compare today’s wages with 100 years or 2,300 years ago?

The following numbers are based on purchasing power parity, which is a tool economists use to compare countries across currencies and across […]

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