Money and Spending Patterns
Posted by Ann on October 22, 1997 at 22:05:38:
In response to What would the value of a pound or 100 pounds be in today's dollars?, written by Sophie on October 22, 1997 at 17:35:56
This is almost impossible to figure. The answer must take into account the great change in spending patterns. For example, is keeping a car the equivalent of keeping a carriage, is the cost of lighting a house with candles the equivalent of electricity and light bulbs, is the cost of cooks and maids comprable to getting take-out food and owning a vacuum cleaner.
The best guide I saw was the one in the introduction to P&P in my Penguin paper back. In it they say that Darcy's wealth would have put him in the ranks of the 400 richest men in England. I think if you extrapolate that to the modern day, you can get a better guess than if you try to take all of the economic changes in the last two centuries into account.
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