Inflation in Eve Online

Below is the great youtube video of the Eve Economy Lecture given by Dr Eygo at the 2013 Fanfest where he talks about the Eve Online economy and notably about inflation within the economy.  It is 52 minutes long and well worth listening to if you want to see what inflation is in Eve (or at least how Dr Eygo views the inflation).

[short answer is: over 10 years none, over last 7 years positive inflation].

As ever, inflation is in the eye of the beholder and different for everyone (my government tells me that UK inflation is 2% and yet i know my cost of living is going up by more each year!).

The main chart CCP appear to follow, which is below, is the "Main Price Indices of New Eden".  Updated to end February.  It shows the (using the definitions in the last Quarterly Economic Report which was in December 2010!):

• the Mineral Price index (blue line): price index of the 8 minerals
• the Primary Producer Price index (red line): price index of manufacturing items used for the production of other manufacturing items.  I.e. drone compounds, moon materials, planetary commodities and items used in invention.
• the Secondary Producer Price index (green line): contains production materials and other production items that are used in the manufacturing of consumer goods, i.e. goods included in the Consumer Price index
• the Consumer Price index (purple line): measures the overall price changes of consumer products. This is not limited to consumables such as fuel, ammunition or Plex, but also includes assets such as ships, modules, implants and starbase structures. In summary, anything that is not produce other goods in this index.

For most players in Eve the main measure of Inflation will be the Consumer Price Index - i.e. what it costs to replace items blown up by others and to maintain their activities of blowing up others.

If logic were to reign - then the Mineral Price Index would lead the Primary Producer index which would lead the Secondary Producer index which would lead the Consumer Price Index.

In other words, if Minerals rise / fall in price then the other indices are affected in turn as the change in the price of the minerals flows through the chain.

Alternatively, the Consumer Price index would lead - i.e. a rise in demand for Consumer items leading to a rise in their price would place greater demand on the manufacturing chain leading to a rise in the price of minerals at the end.