Zuzic said:
SamuelRSmith said: Erm... it's not $700, it's 68,000 Yen.
Currency conversion is useless because if the US Gov't printed a load of notes tomorrow, without any changes in the demand for the dollar, then the dollar would decrease rapidly and the PS3 would get a price hike!
No, it wouldn't. It would still be 68,000 Yen.
Or, what if, for whatever reason, the demand for the dollar went through the roof, and thus it became worth a whole lot more. The 160gb PS3 with FFVII could drop to $100. OMG, Japan gets things so cheap!
No, it would still be 68,000 Yen. |
Did you fail first grade economics?
This is a serious question, did you?
If US did somehow print enough money to offset the value of the dollar in half, meaning instead of an exchange rate of 100 yen to equal a dollar, it's now 50 yen, that means it's worth 1400$ US. However if the dollar was offset, everything in the economy changes, from minimum wage(would nearly double) as well as cost for anything would double. That is how the economy works. Things tend to stay the same price. Also goes to supply and demand, but conversion stays the same. On the other hand, if the dollar was now 200 yen for 1 dollar, now it would be worth 350$, but it's the same cost. If something happened that bad, minimum wage, would be halfed, and also so would goods and services.(If minimum wage wasn't halfed, then stuff would get more expensive, then less expensive).
This anaolgy saying it's worth 700$ is not only right, but accurate. No amount of spin can make it wrong.
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Yay for editing your post later.
Look, I'm tired and bitchy, and this post probably won't make much sense, but I'll go ahead and post it anyway:
Fluctuations in the exchange rate do not effect the minimum wage. The only things that change are levels of imports/exports. You seem to be of the illusion that strength of currency has an effect on inflation, that's not necessarily the case. The value of the pound has been consistantly falling since last summer, under your world, that would mean that inflation has increased - but it hasn't, infact, since last september, inflation has dropped from around 5% to 3% on the CPI and has dropped as low as 1% on the RPI.
This has of course happened because of the huge drop in demand for domestic goods in the UK, however, it shows that inflation and the exchange rate are not tied together.
With that being said, look again at the UK. Games have stayed at the same price in the UK, RRP £40-£50, with discounts coming throughout later months. So the price of games hasn't changed in the UK for its citizens. However, because the value of the pound has fallen, Europeans are now able to import games from the UK for far cheaper prices than what they could have done before.
Has the price changed in the UK? No, it's still £40-£50 at launch, do games look cheaper to people converting the currency? Yes, they do.
What I said remains perfectly true. Sure, the examples I gave are highly unlikely to happen, and come with their own problems, but fluctuations in exchange rate has a huge effect on perceived value from people converting the currency.
The best way to determine the cost of a good or service is to look at the opportunity cost of the said good.