Quote:
Originally Posted by Andsigil
I think you're mixing economic size with economic prosperity. The Shire was certainly prosperous, though not as large as Gondor.
I'm not sure that you could assign traditional economic value to someplace like Lothlorien. In fact, I don't know of any trade, industry, or currency which the elves of Lothlorien used, and that if you tried to explain trade and the ME equivalent of GDP to Celeborn, he'd be quite uninterested. I would even venture that the only valuable things the elves there had, besides bows (which they didn't trade) and Lembas (ditto), were the articles of yore that they had collected over the years. And those were either kept safe, used personally, or bequeathed as gifts for service.
As for Mordor, the value would theoretically be whatever some buyer would want to pay for it. I'm not so sure what kind of monetary value one could assign a place that was hot, choked by ash, ruled by an evil god, populated by slaves and monsters, had fertile land only around Lake Nurnen, and in which all of the buildings were caked with layers of filth.  |
The Shire had potential for economic growth, I certainly did not rule that out. But so long as Hobbits lived in their own little country, unconcerned by the events beyond their borders, economic growth would be very difficult. They would need to develop their trades further afield to prosper. On economic size, the Shire was not a rival to other countries. The other drawback is that Hobbits were not always suited to the trades of Men, e.g. clothing, weaponary, pottery etc due to their size and taste. A cultural hurdle existed here, and one would wonder if Hobbits could adapt to the market needs of men in other countries. I would welcome any economists out there to prove me wrong!
As for Loth Lorien and Mordor, they are simply too incomprehendable to measure their true value and prestige economically.