Question inspired by Youtube video: Game Theory: Fallout Bottle Caps are Worth HOW MUCH?!?
I am going to use Fallout world as example, but I would like to discuss general economy terms and not specifically Fallout.
So, lets start with Alternate history Earth, in late sixties: World War III happened. It was nuclear and managed to wipe the civilization as we knew it.
Some people managed to survive "on the ground" and some managed to survive thanks to the fact that they went to the underground bunkers.
Those who survived on the ground managed to rebuild some type of societies. Some are religious, some are governed by dictator, some are democracies.
The people on the ground meet, sometimes they fight, sometimes they trade. For whatever reason, all different group of people accept bottle caps as form of currency. No other currencies are accepted, if you do not have any bottle caps, you can barter the stuff you have for stuff you need.
Now the question: Can we expect that prices will rise during the time?
Things to consider:
- There is no "central bank" and no institution to grant you exchange of bottle caps for something else valuable.
- There is no central body of government, only local "governments" with different approaches to law