Was early modern writing paper expensive? (2018)

Somehow it must be put in the equation that "the average laborer making 6-12 pence a day" that "could purchase up to 75 sheets of paper with a day’s wages" likely had NO use whatever of the paper as he/she wouldn't know how to read and write.

In any case, a single day labourer's wage covered the expenses for the paper needs for more than twelve years (the article says that the average consumptions were 6 sheets per year, not per day), now, did you spend more or less than $12 for paper last year? (and - as a side note - compare the expense for pencils and ink against those for a modern - crappy BTW - inkjet printer cartridges)

On the other hand, if it was so cheap, most probably we wouldn't have needed some 350 years for the demonstration of Fermat's last theorem ;-).