THE ECONOMICS OF AMBER

Economics in Amber is quite a complex thing.

Corwin states, in 'The Hand of Oberon', that Amber is almost entirely dependent on outside sources of goods for its survival. This implies that its main economic function is as a market or clearing house of goods from across the range of shadow paths that link out into shadow. It also implies that these shadow paths do not cross-link out in shadow (although they may branch), so that traders who want to trade across shadow paths have to come through Amber, putting it in a strategically advantageous position.

Taking all this together Amber plus all the shadows linked to it by shadow paths form a closed economic system, not unlike that of the world of shadow Earth, where the rules of supply and demand apply.

However, there is an extra factor in Amber which can utterly upset the economy, and that is the Royal Family. Any one of them can, if they choose, bring back goods from shadows which are utterly inaccessible via the shadow paths that form the normal trading routes to and from Amber. And there appears to be no reason why Amberites cannot find shadows where fortunes in gold and gems (for example) are there for the taking. Or vast quantities of any kind of commodity. This would have a drastic effect on the economy of shadow Earth. So how do things work in Amber?

In many ways the business of Amber goes on despite the Royals. The ability of the royals to go out into shadow and find mountains of gold & rivers of gems means few of the royals have ever serious ventured into the business arena, thus never endanger the livelihoods of those who depend on it. The economy of Amber is massivly dominated by the Nobility, the merchant class, and the Gentry or Commoners of Amber.

 Occasionally Amberites, Royals, Nobles, & even Gentles who have traveled in shadow, return to amber with fabulous items and glut the market with treasures. This is called a "Boon Item" by the merchants who have had to prepare themselves to try and understand whatever it is that is brought to them. Fantalin Dream stones, Psuedodragons, Abyssal Clay, Zoom feathers, and both Bicycle & Bee Back playing cards have all had their booms. So have latex condoms, flavored beers, Faux Chainmail, bycycles, and a startling vast array of flavored chewing gums, tobaccos & smoking herbs, and exotic alcohol and luxury items. Boon Items are far more likely to be recreational in nature than anything more useful and mundane.

Another problem with "Boon Items" is that sometimes they arrive in Amber inoperative. The particulars of shadow that made them interesting in that shadow do not apply in Amber. Then it is contingent on the Caveot Emptor principle for both Buyer & seller, since merchants in Amber are merely the middlemen. Being themselves buyer & seller, they must find ways to demonstrate the value of inoperative items. The term Pig in a Poke comes to mind.

Nevertheless, huge, vast, even shadow-consuming quantities of valuables come across the counters of the merchant class in Amber. One of the trickiest operations in Amber is the Moneychanger's Guild. This guild has agreed to act as a common body. Doing so at the behest of Oberon at first, they now do so out of tradition. By accepting the word of another Moneychanger on the value of a type of currency the others maintain the currency exchange rates shadow-wide in Amber.

The Amber Silver Wheel is the standard coin of the realm. It weighs one ounce and is of at least 95% pure silver. Amber mints Copper Wheels, Silver Wheels, Gold Wheels, Platinum Wheels, & Mithril Wheels. This system casts shadows of a decimal-based monetary system out into the shadow realms. All Golden Circle Kingdoms agree to support this system as a non-negotiable part of their treaty. Merchants consider both a shadow, and it's currency, sound, if they conform to a metal-based, decimally arranged monetary system. Paper money is considered artwork at best, though many businesses will accept it if the bearer is suitably important in court.

A system of House Checks, of standardized amounts, based on Household treasuries has gained popularity since Patternfall but these are not to be confused with paper money. They are negotiable instruments based on the presumption that eventually the bearer would be able to redeem them for gold. Usually the house appoints an Agent or Factor to deal will the issuance and redemption of such items. The crown is still dubious because the frequent use of these notes begins to smell of a cash economy not taxable by the crown and of the development of private banking concerns. The moneychanger's Guild is vocally and violently opposed to them. Rumor has it that the guild is buying, bribing, and outright stealing these notes in a possible attempt to break the houses who issue them.

The Office of the Exchequer of Amber & the Moneychanger's Guild are thick as thieves, the members frequently trading places. No Exchequer of Amber has ever failed to be a card-carrying member of the Moneychanger's Guild since Oberon established both simultaneously. Random happens to be the only Royal who ever bothered to become a card-carrying member of the Guild, despite thousands of years of activity in Amber.

The Royals are generally so dim on matters of money, so contemptuous of finance that they do not even wonder on the propriety of this. Nor do they understand that by the Royals treating the making of money disdainfully they are distancing themselves from the people of Amber and engendering bitterness between the people and the royals. Thus the rise of both the Republican Movement & the Democracy or Dust crowd can be clearly implied. Class conflict is only avoided by the vast military power of the monarchy and the weight of both tradition and the fear of monsters out of shadow.

As Tony Jones sees it, there are several options:

• The Amber economy is a toy, an entirely artificial construct which bears no resemblance to the real economic ebbs and flows caused by the Royal Family, with which the Royal Family plays, and which exists on their sufferance only. It can be held static, or rebuilt every time a Royal brings in something that affects it. This implies that although Amber may be a marketplace, it will be quite volatile with fortunes made or lost at the whim of the Royals (however intentionally or unintentionally), and the Royal Family is not likely to be terribly popular with those which livelihoods depend on trade. It could imply that the entire non-Royal population of the city, and perhaps even the entire Golden Circle, is effectively indentured to the Royal Family and is paid whatever the Royals decree.
• There are rules to prevent the Royals from destroying the Amber economy. How effective they are depends on who is in charge. When Oberon was on the throne one can easily imagine him decreeing how the Royal shall not destroy the economy of Amber. However, during Eric's reign and when Random took the throne any such rules could easily be undermined and rendered ineffective, leading to economic chaos in Amber.
• Over the centuries and millennia that Amber has existed some way of incorporating the disruptive actions of the Royals into the Amber economy in such a way that it is a functioning economy has been developed. Precisely how this might work would require a better economist than I, but it is the option I tend to prefer as it is easiest to GM...