Assignment Number Three: Establishing and Valuing an Sweet Briar Currency

Taylor Litzenberg

Professor Lynn Rainville

American Economies in 19th Century

12 September 2012

Assignment Number Three:  Establishing and Valuing an Sweet Briar Currency

Sweet Brair College’s current currency involves the use of the Sweet Briar Card given to each student, which is used for identification, meal plans, laundry, and Sweet cash – electronic cash that can be used in areas around the campus. However, a more efficient currency for the future students of Sweet Brair College is the use of Sweet Briar pens and all other pens as a subunit. These pens will be a more efficient currency due to being somewhat abundant throughout college.  Not only will these pens be a more efficient currency, but they will also be useful to any college student if the commodity value of the pens declines because the pens can always be used to write something.

The Sweet Briar pens are made out of plastic, recycled material, and metal, which are all prevalent and easy to find and use in the current society. The symbolism of Sweet Briar pens include:  learning, intelligence, and kinship. These pens symbolize learning and intelligence because students use them to write and study during their time at Sweet Briar, so these college students will think of the value of learning at any given time they use their pens as currency. The pens also symbolize kinship because students are given a few of these pens throughout their time here, which illustrates how close the bonds are between people here at Sweet Briar College. The Sweet Briar pens all have different and unique designs based on that specific pen, but all the pens will have the value of that specific type of pen and “SBC” – abbreviation for Sweet Briar Currency – on them. An ordinary pen from places other than Sweet Briar will be a subunit for the Sweet Briar pens, which will be divided into units of ten. So, each pen would be equivalent to the dime of today and each group of ten normal pens would be equal to the lowest denomination of Sweet Briar pens.  The Sweet Briar pen values include:  the Sweet Briar College pen made out of recycled material is equivalent to one dollar, the Sweet Briar College Library Pen is equivalent to ten dollars, and the Sweet Briar Think Pink, Go Green pen with the pull out honor code and song is equivalent to twenty dollars.

The ordinary, everyday pens are only equivalent to ten cents each because they can be found around the world and are not specific to just Sweet Briar College. Since, these ordinary pens are common, it means that the value of these pens should not be high, which is why they are equivalent to ten cents. The Sweet Briar College pen is equivalent to one dollar because it is made of recycled material, which makes it easy to produce, and it is pretty plain because it is only two shades of green with a small flower, and Sweet Briar College’s contact information. Making this pen from recycled and easily accessible material makes the pen easier to manufacture and more prevalent to own, which decreases the amount of value it could have. This pen’s lack of an appealing design also causes the worth of the pen to be small in value. The Sweet Briar College Library Pen is equivalent to ten dollars because it is made of a more durable plastic, which will help make the currency last longer. The aesthetic aspects, which enhance its value, of the library pen include:  having green and white on the pen, having the school’s crest, and the library email address. The Sweet Briar Think Pink, Go Green pen is equivalent to twenty dollars because it is the most complicated and aesthetically pleasing pen. This pen is complicated because it combines plastic, metal, and a pull out piece that has the honor code and a song and it is aesthetically pleasing because it has a decorative pull out tab, pink, green, gray, and an interesting shape. This complicated and eye-catching design results in a more valuable pen because it takes more material to create and it is more worthy of being a higher denomination.

The theory of value with these Sweet Briar and ordinary pens is that pens are necessary and important for writing down information and knowledge throughout college. Since, pens can be used to enhance learning in a college; they are a primary tool for students, which is why they make great commodity money. If the economy of the pen commodity crashes, then the students can just go back to using the pens as normal pens.

Sweet Briar pens with a subunit of ordinary pens as a currency at Sweet Briar College would change the function of a pen from just being a writing utensil to a writing utensil and a useful monetary object. These pens as a currency will impact the social classes here by causing the people that have and use more pens to be a more advanced social class. Also intellectual individuals, who used pens frequently, will control the economics at Sweet Briar. These intellectual individuals will be in control because they have many pens already, which will put them at an advantage.