Hobbit Risks:"The Hobbit" from an Insurance Point of View | Hacker News Reader

Hobbit Risks:"The Hobbit" from an Insurance Point of View

allianz.com

52 pointsinfinity13 comments

And here is a link to the second part:

An Ork fortress for over 320 million euros: A virtual claims report for the Film “The Hobbit”. Part II – property damage:

https://www.allianz.com/en/press/news/studies/news_2013-08-2...

See also the macroeconomics of middle-earth: http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2012...

>The result was an immediate increase in the money supply, and a rapid growth in overall economic activity.

Wouldn't a massive increase in money supply of the amount Smaug guarded just lead to Hyper Inflation?

Or an economic bubble. Or both depending on the rate of release of the cash

Hyper inflation is hard without an external event (war, loss of all foreign trading partners, etc.). Just an increase in the money supply has very little to do with hyper inflation.

No, because the "money" involved is real goods with intrinsic value, not to be confused with "fiat money" where currency units have value unilaterally declared and have no market value on their own. Sure, unleashing all that gold etc. would have a massive economic impact (as the annual GDP jumps several times over), but not hyperinflation.

AFAIK, hyperinflation amounts to cutting a pizza into thinner slices to feed a large number of people: the total "value" of the pizza being inadequate to satisfy the group's hunger, cutting enough slices by cutting them thin renders each slice unsatisfying, and addressing subsequent demands for more by cutting existing slices thinner still just "devalues" existing slices while giving a brief (and absurd) stance of "I gave you however many slices you wanted - be satiated!" Fiat currency just represents the total value of the culture holding it, with N currency units each representing 1/Nth of total value; hyperinflation occurs when the government owes debt D > 1 and tries to make N*(1/N) > D by increasing the value of N, which of course doesn't work.

Recall that part of the economic impact would be to send the real value of gold plummeting, significantly mitigating any "economic damage" that might occur. Given the primitive communications available at the time, the adventurer's best option is probably to spend as little gold as possible in town as rapidly as possible, before the collective value of gold can catch up, then burn metaphorical rubber for the next large town to try to beat their own news about their stash, and repeat as long as possible.

If you price everything in terms of their gold value, the result would look like hyperinflation, but it wouldn't really be that, it's really just a one-time event. But it would be disruptive.

Isn't all this an act of war or terrorism? Every insurance policy I've seen ( <-- weasel ) refuses to cover these.

They better hope they're not insured with Allianz Insurance, aka Unclean Nazi Liars, or they won't see a cent.

Wow, a Godwin-hole-in-one.

Nice coincidence that I just today learned about a brilliant drinking game:

"Well, I've got to work tomorrow, which means that unfortunately I can't use this thread for my favorite lonely drinking game. (For those of you who are interested: Go to an article about Germany. Drink a shot >each time Hitler, WW2 or something similar comes up. Enjoy and prepare to call in sick the next day!)"

(from here: http://discussion.theguardian.com/comment-permalink/26364455)

Not referring to anything in the past. This is what they're like now. Especially if you're trying to get them to pay out.

This is 2013, not 1950. You seriously cannot hold a grudge against companies that did business with nazis during World War 2. If your grandfather was an austrian businessman during the war and did business (I'm not talking about supplying Zyklon B or anything) with the nazis, would you shun him forever?

You misunderstand -- the name is an anagram, and refers to their current business practices, not something they might have done half a century or more ago. They are bastards right now.

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