The Real Golden Rule: "He who has the gold, makes the rules!"

We've seen in canon that ponies use little (presumably gold) coins called "bits" for their currency and they appear to live in a capitalistic/free enterprise system. But what kind of economic systems do the other species have? Why do ponies favor little gold coins and use precious gems as nothing more than dress decorations? Which species trade with each other and what do they trade? Do pony businesses hire workers from other species? Vice versa?

You know the music, time to dance. Discuss!

Well I think the gem v. gold thing can be easily explained, gems are so common that their value is fairly low while gold and other precious metals are not as common.

654276
That's true for ponies at least. Diamond Dogs and dragons seem to REALLY favor gems. But dragons also eat them, so their value is less economic for them.

654305
And no one knows why the Diamond Dogs go after gems. The question is the bit really gold? For all we know the water flowing through Ponyville has a higher gold content then a bit coin and Equestria used fiat money like the real world

i dont imagine a dragon trading to obtain his gems ^^

654328
I think it's a possibility that other races would attempt to bribe dragons with gems to get them to assist in a war effort.

Never thought of that... Could you post something mentioning it in the thread related to armies here? It may lead to interesting discussion

Ponies - Bits or gems.
Changelings - No currency
Griffons - Unrefined materials, usually preserved food of some kind. Weapons are highly valued.
Zebras - Most are nomadic traders. Clothing and potions are highly valued. Various other tribal objects or anything else they obtain are also traded.
Dragons - Gems by the boatload or other precious materials in the rare case that a dragon must make a transaction. Most do not trade due to individual isolationism.
Minotaurs - Chips, wafer-thin disks of translucent material. Technology is also traded on occasion. Only other species to use official currency.

Equestria seems to have industrial capabilities, steam engines and ship building. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be honed towards mass production or industry.

They also seem to have plenty of material wealth in the form of gold, made obvious by the obnoxious amount of it plastered all over Canterlot and the numerous times Ponyville has been rebuilt without significant fuss.

Depending on your interpretation of Changeling they might have a sizable and well-coordinated work force, even some degree of industry. A group of Changelings connected by some type of hive mind could easily erect quality structures far more quickly and arguably more cheaply than another species work force of similar size.

Edit: their nature would also make it easy to steal vast quantities of other nation’s currency. This could also be extended to magical knowledge and technology.

654254 Oh, and I feel compelled to point out he who owns the gun, soon possesses all that gold.

654351 Id imagine griffons with an organized trade sistem with currency rather than a barter system, but apart from that i agree with you. Oh, and dont forget the diamond dogs! Probably their currency is gems, but still i dont see their society with an organizedd economy...

654392 I imagine their self-declared conversion rate is three of your gems for one of theirs.

654378
Or Celestia just writes off the check for natural disasters. Wait, that doesn't work. Maybe the ponies are all rich but don't actually spend much.
I personally can't see changelings having a monetary system unless they need to trade with an outside source.

654420 They probably keep some collection of foreign currency for the sake of infiltration and blending in. Whether or not they have a system of their own depend on if you can see them having an organised civilisation of some description.

654392
How about their currency is food? Not just offering and negotiating 40 rabbits for a sword, but sticks of jerky are used in place of coinage? No one would eat it, but preserved meats do last a long time. And for some reason, I see griffons living up north where the weather is cold. Frozen preserved meats last even longer.

I thought that they were brass. It seems better as gold is extremely rare in any 'verse. Why? 'Cause gold is created when a red giant supernovas, and that in itself only created a few hundred tons that may or may not land on a planet a few million light years away.

And supernovas aren't that common anywho.

Ponies - Brass bits, gold bits, and gems.

Diamond Dogs-Gems

Changelings - When in disguise, with the currency of the race they are disguised as. Amongst themselves they use vials full of love drained from captured and cocooned other races. Or to buy a whole burror they'll offer a captured victim.

Griffons - Weapons, food and the like

Zebras - Bits/trade goods

Dragons - Gems, but few trade with them.

Minotaurs - Silver coins

654326

My theory? Celestia hires the Diamond Dogs.

Or, rather someone in their department. I know horses hate caves, least real life ones. And granted, there are earth ponies- I have yet to see a single miner pony.

Oddly enough, I have seen rock farming ponies- So why would they need miners?

Considering the Diamond Dogs were still allowed to mine even after Rarity's abduction, makes me think they are there on a work visa or are employed by Equestria.

654975
I can agree with that, the Diamond Dog Packs (or at least most of them) are under treaty with the Equestriani government. They are fine miners, though I would think the pack to got Rarity would have been in deep doo-doo with Celestia for attempting to enslave on of her ponies.

Also, I think Buffalo would also be traders, though they seem to keep to themselves.

Sphinxes are a Monarchy but use a communist-like system where every sphinx is entitled to every product by every other sphinx, but the distribution is rigidly controlled by the regime. They adopt currencies only to barter with other races before they enslave them

654975

The fact that they were willing to abduct Rarity, along with the fact that none of the ponies knew about the Dogs prior to the abduction, suggests that they were actually mostly unknown to Equestria. Celestia doesn't seem too knowledgeable about the general Ponyville area (consider that she didn't know what parasprites were). Almost certainly they exist outside of Celestia's normal jurisdiction.

Gems are a lot harder to assess the value of than gold.

With gold, all you need to know is the weight and the purity. Turning it into coins solves both these problems at a glance (well, until you get into counterfeiting of various sorts). Gems can't really be standardized without a lot of waste (cutting them down smaller, which, given that Equestrian gems come out of the ground pre-cut is even more of a waste, and probably even less of a developed art in Equestria).

In other words, the idea of gems as currency is basically putting things down to barter, rather than actual currency.

654254

Their society has capitalist elements, to be sure, but I'm not sure that means it is capitalist. For instance, the Apple family seem to own all the apple farms simply because they're all related, so there's at least a huge amount of nepotism and predictability in how agriculture is managed. It would at least explain why pony names so readily predict their purposes in life: because businesses and social roles are partially hereditarian.

As for currencies, the other species probably all had to give up their own currencies and submit to the Bit Standard of the ponies. Dragons don't have a currency because they never buy things; if they want anything, they'll simply take it and not care about anyone else. Diamond Dogs are probably social kleptoparasites, stealing things off the other inhabitants. Minotaurs, griffons, zebras, donkeys, and farm animals probably relied on their own forms of money or tokens before integrating with the ponies, with the zebras and donkeys using social obligations and feudal systems at various points during their long history. As for buffalo... whatever Native Americans used to do amongst themselves.

Presumably, someone is experimenting with paper money and credit in Equestria, given that there are plenty of big businesses around.

Equestria: Bits, shillings and pence or saddles, bits, reins and annos. A centre-left socio-economic system.
Zebrica: Pounds, onzes and dongs. Socio-economics akin to Anglo-Saxon England.
Griffany: Francs and cents. A centre-right socio-economic system.
Canistan: Sovereigns, roubles and gemstones. Lasseiz-faire capitalism.
Woolweria: A barter economy (defunct).
Burroland: Libra, sestertii and denarii. A feudal-esque economy.
The Buffalo Confederacy: A barter economy.
Dragon Territories: No established economic system.
Sea Serpents: Uncertain; possibly gemstone and coral.

691012

For instance, the Apple family seem to own all the apple farms

Do they? Or are they simply the biggest name in the field? i never presumed it was an actual monopoly, although in some places it might be a practical one. And a pony's talent is likely as big a factor, if not more, than birth - although to some degree those might be hereditary as well.

As for the economy as a whole, capitalist, but not as brutally so as we humans are familiar with. Fair dealing and workers rights are occasional-deviated from norms, not things one has to fight the system for. It is a fantasy land, after all...