Texts:
Jethro Elsden – https://capx.co/harry-potter-and-the-economics-of-the-wizarding-world/
&
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (film)
Numerous attempts have been made to analyze Rowling’s famous economy—insightful analysis found focused on the societal structure in relationship to Harry Potter’s economy: Jethro Elsden’s article The Economics of the Wizarding World. Many studies have been done to determine types of currency used and analyze the world J.K. Rowling created. The realism is present in many elements of modern life, despite a magical setting. Elsden’s analysis takes into account many factors that contributed to the economic running of Harry Potter’s world. The text gives its own analysis of the wizarding word, not only economically but politically. I’m hoping to provide a fresh take on the wizard’s economy in comparison to Elsden’s analysis and also using economic terminology from Lanham, Selzer, etc.
In his analysis, Elsden discusses the ties between the economy and the social and political within the Harry Potter realm. He is thus making connections between our world and parallels to Rowling’s created world. Rowling is British. Making the assumption she is using the English economic system as a basis for her own, we can attempt to analyze how the currency would operate in real life.
If we look at Lanham’s analysis of the new world economy and apply his reasoning to the novel of Harry Potter, we see the attention economy created by wizards. Wizarding families accumulate the most wealth over generations, having few main “pureblood” families that are seen as prosperous socially (due to their bloodlines) but also economically. This relates back to Elsden, looking at how the social effects the economical. These pureblood families are symbols of status but also of wealth: their families. These families receive the most attention due to their pureblood ties. They have the flashiest robes, homes, etc. Those who receive the most attention have the most continuing economic access throughout history.
Elsden looks at the politics of the world, and the control the Minister of Magic has—he analyzes the negative effects of politics on the wizards. However, I feel his theory ties to the idea that those who receive the most attention have the most political influence over the Minister of Magic. Mr. Malfoy, a pureblood who receives attention, is able to exert his political influence in the Ministry of Magic. Thus, even an imaginary economy illustrates Lanham’s attention theory.
The rhetoric in Elsden’s article is negative towards the subject matter. Elsden is persuading us that the idealized world of Harry Potter is not as pretty or enviable as it first seems. He describes the economy as having “virtually no innovation” (Elsden). He also comments there is a “lack of a modern financial system” (Elsden). His language using negative adjectives depicts the subject in a negative light.
What I gathered from Elsden’s article is that he feels Harry Potter’s economic system would be disastrous if put into real life.
Also, the money itself is an indicator of attention: galleons are described as fat, gold coins, fat is a blunt adjective, gold already with the connotation of wealth. In real life gold is no longer used as a monetary form because it is problematic. In Harry Potter this limit does not apply. Wizards have a limited amount of currency: 3 pieces of currency (galleons, sickles, and knuts).
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