Key Resources Throughout History?

[Masada]

Can someone other than JEELEN enlighten me as to what JEELEN's position is now? It seems to have changed again, somewhere along the line.

 

[ParkCungHee]

By all means, let's take things out of context... We were discussing early iron trade.

Yes, hence the early Atlantic Iron Trade.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I should try to clear this out. I claimed that there was iron as in iron ore, a resource. There may well be trade in worked iron. Certainly there must have been. That is, as Masada and others pointed out, due to different local economics or technology, not due to a lack of the base resource.

Well actually my point is that the local economics and technology were totally capable of supporting local demand for iron goods, but the trade flourished anyway.

 

[Old Hippy]

I'm sure apples and oranges can be considered strategic resources in some alternate universe. Otherwise I don't quite see how this relates to the establishment of iron trade.

ahhh this is the problem then...

recommend reading about the English cloth/Portuguese wine situation in this wiki article on comparative advantage, as a lead to further reading, maybe including David Ricardo's theories

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage

 

[Old Hippy]

Can someone other than JEELEN enlighten me as to what JEELEN's position is now? It seems to have changed again, somewhere along the line.

it would seem to be that special theories apply to the iron trade that totally separate it from the trade of apples and oranges, these obviously being a modern idea in trade... as opposed to the 'early iron trade'



edit* would it be possible for the mods to 'just' insert a post between my two. to uphold the traditions of the chamber, or in other words ''Oops"

 

[Masada]

Oh, right. Apparently economics theory bows down to JEELEN's will.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Historical fact too.

 

[GoodGame]

It seems that with "importance" you refer to how powerful a resource makes you? For instance water is obviously more important than oil to humans in general terms but the relative abundance of water and scarcity of oil makes oil a more powerful asset.

Excellent answer. Scarcity drives up price, but only if there is still demand regardless.

Uranium of the right isotope is worth more per weight than oil. Oil is just more directly portable in its end use (fewer electric cars than internal combustion engines), so more popular in cars.

 

[Perfection]

Beer

 

[Traitorfish]

Some archaeologists think that Mesopotamian agriculture was originally developed to maintain a steady supply of beer year-round, so: maybe?

 

[Perfection]

It's the cornerstone of civilization.