How much does a Breath cost?

[Trusk'our]

In Warbreaker, I'm pretty sure that it was said that it cost enough money to feed a small family for a year to purchase a Breath, but that doesn't seem very specific. 

How much in real life American dollars would on Bio Chromatic breath cost?

 

[Chinkoln]

In the US, the average family will spend about $8,000 on food per year.

[Trusk'our]

4 hours ago, Chinkoln said:

In the US, the average family will spend about $8,000 on food per year.

Thanks so much!

So I guess that you don't have to be THAT rich to afford Breath, just moderately rich.

 

[Frustration]

2 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

Thanks so much!

So I guess that you don't have to be THAT rich to afford Breath, just moderately rich.

 

Well, that's $8,000 for one breath, not a lot you can do with just one, you need at least 20 or so for you to do much more than mess around with lifeless.

8,000*20

$160,000, for much of anything.

[Trusk'our]

4 hours ago, Frustration said:

Well, that's $8,000 for one breath, not a lot you can do with just one, you need at least 20 or so for you to do much more than mess around with lifeless.

8,000*20

$160,000, for much of anything.

True, I suppose. I meant more along the lines of that you didn't need to be a millionaire to be a candidate for purchasing Breath.

[Chinkoln]

But it’s along similar lines of, you don’t need to be a millionaire to buy a Tesla, go on a cruise, or something else. But if uses large sums of money for largely useless stuff… then why 

[+Oltux72]

12 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

True, I suppose. I meant more along the lines of that you didn't need to be a millionaire to be a candidate for purchasing Breath.

In preindustrial economies the share of income average people spend on food is larger.

[WandererNearby]

If you look at this as feeding a small family for a year in Hallandren, I think a better guess would be the price to feed a family for a year in a large city like New York City. Per this article (https://smartasset.com/mortgage/what-is-the-cost-of-living-in-new-york-city), it cost 471.34 per month to eat there. A family of four spending that much per person is $22642 per year. That is much closer to my intuition for the cost of a breath and it would mean that Vivenna has about 13.5 million dollars of breath. It would also mean that Susebron, as someone who has 10th heightening, would be a billionaire. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by DougTheRug
clarity

[Frustration]

On 10/25/2021 at 7:28 AM, DougTheRug said:

If you look at this as feeding a small family for a year in Hallandren, I think a better guess would be the price to feed a family for a year in a large city like New York City. Per this article (https://smartasset.com/mortgage/what-is-the-cost-of-living-in-new-york-city), it cost 471.34 per month to eat there. A family of four spending that much per person is $22642. That is much closer to my intuition for the cost of a breath and it would mean that Vivenna has about 13.5 million dollars of breath. It would also mean that Susebron, as someone who has 10th heightening, would be a billionaire. 

The more you narrow in on a specific place the more discrepencies you are going to find, New York has a lot of economic policies that increase the price of basically anything, even without its size, so I think just using the average for the US would be a better estimate for economic transfer.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Frustration

[Brgst13]

Will Nalthis develop a market hawking fake Breaths?  Does a Scadrian prince need them to send him their Breath to get through customs?  Will Walmart carry poor quality Breaths for discounted prices?

[#1 Taln Fan]

On 10/25/2021 at 8:28 AM, DougTheRug said:

If you look at this as feeding a small family for a year in Hallandren, I think a better guess would be the price to feed a family for a year in a large city like New York City. Per this article (https://smartasset.com/mortgage/what-is-the-cost-of-living-in-new-york-city), it cost 471.34 per month to eat there. A family of four spending that much per person is $22642. That is much closer to my intuition for the cost of a breath and it would mean that Vivenna has about 13.5 million dollars of breath. It would also mean that Susebron, as someone who has 10th heightening, would be a billionaire. 

Yeah this sounds more accurate.