Today, I’m taking a break from my demography of Middle-Earth series to tackle a problem in my chosen field of study–economics. More specifically, today’s post is about the macroeconomic impact of Smaug, the red dragon of Erebor, on the economy of Middle-Earth.
To summarize, the consensus is that the arrival of the great wyrm of the North was both a fiscal and monetary shock: fiscal, due to the enormous damage to the productive capacities of the people of Middle-Earth (the destruction of Dale and Erebor, the roasting and consumption of countless skilled Dwarven miners and smiths); and monetary, because of the abrupt removal of the biggest hoard of currency in Middle-Earth.
How big a hoard, you might ask?
According to one calculation, Smaug is more than 60 meters long, and has a wingspan of over 50 meters–by all measures, an impressive beast. But those who have seen the movie know that Smaug is easily dwarfed by his massive bed of gold and jewels; he’s able to lie completely hidden beneath his treasure hoard. And recall that in the film the Dwarves’ plan to rid themselves of the dragon involves <spoiler>drowning him in a pool of molten gold</spoiler>.
Now, by one estimate, the sum total of all the gold mined in human history would form about a 25 meter cube, with a value of over $12.4 trillion dollars (using the present gold price of roughly $1240 USD per ounce). The treasure hoard of Smaug is many times that size, making the wealth of the dragon many times greater than the modern United States’s annual GDP! And that’s just considering the value of the gold; once you factor in the value of the countless jewels and gems of his hoard, Smaug’s wealth simply becomes incalculable (Forbes, eat your heart out).
It’s easily conceivable that the massive shock to the money supply caused by the loss of the hoard started a deflationary spiral in the surrounding area, resulting in a severe depression in economic activity. No wonder the area around the Lonely Mountain was so desolate!
An interesting follow-up question would be the effects of the return of the hoard to Middle-Earth’s economy with the eventual slaying of the dragon. The re-introduction of such a vast amount of currency to the money supply would almost certainly have a massive inflationary effect on the surrounding economy–certainly not a welcome development for the people of Esgaroth and Erebor trying to rebuild their homes in the wake of the dragon. To borrow a phrase–out of the frying pan, into the fire!