One dollar in 1950 had far more buying power than one dollar does now. Something that cost a dollar in 1950 would cost nearly $14 in 2026.
The halfpenny, when discontinued, could purchase roughly as much as 12¢ could today.
At that time, it was decided that a halfpenny wasn’t necessary, as transactions were of a high enough value that made tracking the numbers to the half-penny needless, and that you could just round to the nearest penny.
The equivalent today would be rounding to either the nearest dime or quarter, eliminating the need for smaller denomination coins.
Let’s say that, in 1950, you could buy 10 apples for a dollar. Would you agree that, in 1950, 10 apples were “worth” $1? One dollar’s “worth” of apples was 10 apples?
Now, let’s say today I can buy one apple for one dollar. Would you agree that 1 apple was “worth” one dollar? That one dollar’s “worth” of apples was 1 apple?
Now, if we assume that the “buying power” of a dollar is measured in “how many apples a dollar can buy,” that my current dollar is “worth less” than a 1950 dollar, because it purchases me fewer apples? That the two “dollars” have a different “number of apples I can buy” property?
Yes, in each case I’ve purchased a “dollars worth of apples,” but it’s very much meaningful to define how many apples that is, and track how that changes over time.
And if I cancelled the halfpenny because it wasn’t worth having when it could only buy 1 apple, but right now it takes 12 pennies to buy 1 apple, then perhaps I should have gotten rid of the penny a long time ago. And the nickel. And probably the dime.
That’s not how inflation works. “Worth” is a pretty variable term, “buying power” is typically a better description.
Think of it like this, using somewhat made up numbers. In the 50s you could get a cup of coffee for 10 cents from a diner. That same cup of coffee in 2025 costs like 2.50 dollars. Is the coffee “worth” more in 2025? No, it’s the same 8oz cup of coffee but the money has less buying power
Yes, a dollar is a dollar. But it is not worth the same value.
The dollar categorically holds less value. Worth is just a measure of how much value something has to people.
The goods are more monetarily expensive, but have the same intrinsic value (e.g. calories do not give your body more energy now than they used to). Thus, the dollar is worth less than it used to be, and it requires more of them to equal the value of the same amount of food. A dollar today is equivalent to one other dollar today, but it is not worth one dollar ten, twenty, or 50 years ago.
If I could trade $100 today for $100 50 years ago, I would have more value even though both are classified as “one hundred dollars”, because $100 50 years ago has more value and gets you more goods.
$1 today gets you the same amount of goods as $0.53 got you in the year 2000 in terms of actual buying power, hence why people use that term.
If I could trade $100 today for $100 50 years ago, I would have more value even though both are classified as “one hundred dollars”, because $100 50 years ago has more value and gets you more goods.
No you’d still have a hundred dollars.
Just because the bills are dated nineteen seventy-five doesn’t mean you’d be able to buy more with it.
I meant if you were in the actual time, 1975. As in, trading your current bills for those bills, and spending them back then.
You would still have the same number of dollars, but you’d have dollars that had more value in each, and thus more purchasing power. Prices were lower, because the value of each dollar was higher, even though the same goods were still priced in dollars back then and today.
A dollar is not an unchanging unit, because it’s purpose is to be spent, and to represent value. One dollar is one dollar, but how much goods someone is willing to give you for a dollar changes, thus a dollar is never truly equivalent to itself at a different time in the past.
The value of a dollar will change from one second to the next, as the prices of goods in the economy are updated to reflect how many dollars someone thinks they are individually worth, and by doing so, the value of the dollar as a method of purchasing power changes.
There is no objective measure by which the dollar determines its value, and there is no peg that one dollar will always be worth. One dollar today gets you less than a dollar 50 years ago, thus the dollar today is worth less than a dollar 50 years ago, even if the denomination on the bill is the same number.
One dollar in 1950 had far more buying power than one dollar does now. Something that cost a dollar in 1950 would cost nearly $14 in 2026.
The halfpenny, when discontinued, could purchase roughly as much as 12¢ could today.
At that time, it was decided that a halfpenny wasn’t necessary, as transactions were of a high enough value that made tracking the numbers to the half-penny needless, and that you could just round to the nearest penny.
The equivalent today would be rounding to either the nearest dime or quarter, eliminating the need for smaller denomination coins.
But something worth a dollar in 1950 is worth the same as something that’s worth a dollar now in 2025.
Okay, let’s try to break it down for you.
Let’s say that, in 1950, you could buy 10 apples for a dollar. Would you agree that, in 1950, 10 apples were “worth” $1? One dollar’s “worth” of apples was 10 apples?
Now, let’s say today I can buy one apple for one dollar. Would you agree that 1 apple was “worth” one dollar? That one dollar’s “worth” of apples was 1 apple?
Now, if we assume that the “buying power” of a dollar is measured in “how many apples a dollar can buy,” that my current dollar is “worth less” than a 1950 dollar, because it purchases me fewer apples? That the two “dollars” have a different “number of apples I can buy” property?
Yes, in each case I’ve purchased a “dollars worth of apples,” but it’s very much meaningful to define how many apples that is, and track how that changes over time.
And if I cancelled the halfpenny because it wasn’t worth having when it could only buy 1 apple, but right now it takes 12 pennies to buy 1 apple, then perhaps I should have gotten rid of the penny a long time ago. And the nickel. And probably the dime.
That’s not how inflation works. “Worth” is a pretty variable term, “buying power” is typically a better description.
Think of it like this, using somewhat made up numbers. In the 50s you could get a cup of coffee for 10 cents from a diner. That same cup of coffee in 2025 costs like 2.50 dollars. Is the coffee “worth” more in 2025? No, it’s the same 8oz cup of coffee but the money has less buying power
But you give a store a dollar back then and you got a dollar’s worth of goods and now you still do.
You get a dollar’s worth of goods, but the amount of goods you get is less, because a dollar is worth less.
Well the dollar is worth the same (a dollar) but the goods are more expensive.
Yes, a dollar is a dollar. But it is not worth the same value.
The dollar categorically holds less value. Worth is just a measure of how much value something has to people.
The goods are more monetarily expensive, but have the same intrinsic value (e.g. calories do not give your body more energy now than they used to). Thus, the dollar is worth less than it used to be, and it requires more of them to equal the value of the same amount of food. A dollar today is equivalent to one other dollar today, but it is not worth one dollar ten, twenty, or 50 years ago.
If I could trade $100 today for $100 50 years ago, I would have more value even though both are classified as “one hundred dollars”, because $100 50 years ago has more value and gets you more goods.
$1 today gets you the same amount of goods as $0.53 got you in the year 2000 in terms of actual buying power, hence why people use that term.
No you’d still have a hundred dollars.
Just because the bills are dated nineteen seventy-five doesn’t mean you’d be able to buy more with it.
You have to go back in time to get more value from the same unit of money. Therefore, the current currency is worth less. It’s called inflation.
I meant if you were in the actual time, 1975. As in, trading your current bills for those bills, and spending them back then.
You would still have the same number of dollars, but you’d have dollars that had more value in each, and thus more purchasing power. Prices were lower, because the value of each dollar was higher, even though the same goods were still priced in dollars back then and today.
A dollar is not an unchanging unit, because it’s purpose is to be spent, and to represent value. One dollar is one dollar, but how much goods someone is willing to give you for a dollar changes, thus a dollar is never truly equivalent to itself at a different time in the past.
The value of a dollar will change from one second to the next, as the prices of goods in the economy are updated to reflect how many dollars someone thinks they are individually worth, and by doing so, the value of the dollar as a method of purchasing power changes.
There is no objective measure by which the dollar determines its value, and there is no peg that one dollar will always be worth. One dollar today gets you less than a dollar 50 years ago, thus the dollar today is worth less than a dollar 50 years ago, even if the denomination on the bill is the same number.