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Hey, Vsauce3, Michael here, and we have all
collected Mario coins. They're fun, they're
shiny- but, how much would they actually be
worth, in dollars, in real life? The answer
may surprise you, and the best guy to answer
that question is Joey.
Hey Vsauce, Joey here, and I've got a question:
how much is a coin from the Mario universe
worth? As in real, US dollars?
Now for purposes of this extraordinarily scientific
study that can, in no way, be challenged,
let's stick to the classic Mario games: NES
only.
There are several ways to tackle this question:
First, though not necessarily cannon, let's
make the first assumption most everyone else
does: that these coins are made of solid gold,
and that means we need to figure out how big
it is. This is where the spinning coins from
Super Mario Bros 3 come in real handy.
Looking at them from different angles, you'll
find a volume of 828 cubic pixels per coin.
For comparison sake, take a look at Mario-
he stands 28 pixels high. Taking the average
height of an Italian male, 5 ft, 9.5 inches,
we can extrapolate that one pixel is about
2.5 inches squared. Therefore, one coin has
a volume of 7.5 cubic ft.
At that size, one solid gold coin would weigh
4.5 tons, or, two of these, fully loaded with
passengers and cargo. That much gold is worth
about 228 million dollars in today's market.
One can easily scoff at these numbers, but,
maybe the coins are just gold plated? Well,
if that's the case, then the possibilities
are limitless. The insides could be made of
copper, or platinum, or cream cheese.
So, how about another method: What's the purchasing
power of a coin in Mario's world? Well, in
these classic games at least, everyone knows
that 100 coins equals an extra life.
So, what's the value of life?
Surprisingly, there are some quantifiable
answers. The US Environmental Protection Agency,
when analyzing if regulations make economic
sense, has used something called the "Value
of a Statistical Life." In 2009 ,the value
of a statistical life was set at 7.9 million
dollars. Thus, according to the EPA, one coin
is worth 79 thousand dollars.
Or, we could look at the sum of Mario's parts...on
the black market...
The website Humanforsale.com considers a bunch
of personal information to give you a somewhat
tongue-and-cheek value for your life on the
black market. All we have to do is make a
few educated guesses concerning Mario's background.
Bilingual? Sure. Alcohol? Not on Nintendo's
watch.
Put in all the info, and the value of Mario's
life comes out to $1,485,130. So, a little
under 15 thousand dollars per coin.
But, aren't these values a bit high for something
that's littered throughout every corner of
these games? It's been established that these
coins are legal tender in the Mushroom Kingdom.
So, what exactly is the nature of this money?
Well, if the Mushroom Kingdom is minting these
coins, they're going to have to pay for the
resources that go into them, regardless of
whether it's gold or cream cheese. And when
your basic unit of currency costs thousands
of US dollars, at a minimum, you're going
to have a very limited supply.
This will cause "Supple Side Deflation." That's
where the value of money is so high, and the
cost of goods so low, that it makes little
sense to invest. No one would buy anything
on credit, and the entire economy would stagnate,
which means no loans available for Toad to
build new item shops or casinos. In fact,
such deflation was a hallmark of The Great
Depression.
But, one important fact that is used against
these coins being a minted currency is that
they're renewable- they practically grow on
trees... well...in boxes. And, if Mario starts
to stage over for any reason, all the coins
that he collected come right back.
And that means that there's any entirely new
worry for the Mushroom Kingdom: Inflation.
This occurs when there's too much coinage
in the system, and money has less buying power
over time. If this runs out of control you
get "Hyper Inflation." One famous example
of such occurred in Germany after World War
1, when it had to print tons of money in order
to pay off its war debts.
The problem is, there's no way to control
the minting of these coins. They literally
regenerate within seconds, and that's just
begging to be abused.
Unscrupulous Mario's could collect all the
coins in the stage, die at the end, and still
have a net profit as they restart. Thus, the
money supply would grow without limits. You'd
eventually need wheel-barrows full of coins
just to buy one lousy Fire Flower.
With all this in mind, the monetary value
of a coin seems moot. Even if Mario was the
richest person in the Mushroom Kingdom, he'd
still be poor. Due to their ridiculously quick
regenerative properties, these coins have
no worthwhile value; however, if an extra
life is always worth 100 coins, and the coins
have no value, what does that say about the
value of a life in this world?
Inconsequently, the value of saving a kidnapped
Princess in peril? That's something I leave
for you to ponder. And, as always, thanks
for watching.