An entertaining (and, so far as I can tell, pretty reasonable) analysis of The Monetary Economics of Thurston Howell III, which answers the immortal question, "Why the hell do any of the castaways on Gilligan's Island care a whit for Thurston's money?"

In later episodes, monetary exchange takes place in US paper currency. Was it impossible to recover the gold from the lagoon? Perhaps the writers found it more convenient to deal in the money the television viewers themselves were most familiar with. We might dismiss this as economic naivete on the part of the writers, but recent history provides evidence that fiat paper can, in fact, outlive its government. Not only that, but post-fiat money -- dead government currency -- can out-compete American greenbacks!

(via J-Walk)

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