Methodology
Sovereign Basket Index
The basket visualizer compares the cost of essential goods in fiat currency versus UVD over time. This page documents the basket composition, price data sources, and projection methodology.
What does it show?
The Sovereign Basket Index tracks a standardized set of essential goods — housing, energy, transport, food — across multiple countries. Each item is priced in both the local fiat currency (with historical inflation applied) and in UVD (with near-stable pricing).
The divergence between the two lines is not hypothetical. It is the arithmetic result of applying each country's documented inflation rate to a fixed basket of goods over time. The fiat price rises exponentially; the UVD price stays nearly flat.
Basket Composition
Each country basket contains six essential categories. Base prices are calibrated to 2020 average costs from national statistics offices:
Germany (EUR)
United States (USD)
Nigeria (NGN) and UAE (AED) baskets follow the same methodology. Full basket data is available in the source code.
Price Projection Formula
Fiat Price Projection
P_fiat(t) = P_base × (1 + r)^tP_base — Base price of the item (2020)
r — Country-specific average annual inflation rate
t — Years into the future
UVD Price Projection
P_uvd(t) = P_base × (1 + 0.002)^tUVD prices are projected with a 0.2% annual drift — accounting for minor real economic effects (productivity changes, demand shifts) that persist even under a symmetric monetary system. This is a conservative modeling choice; the actual drift could be zero or slightly negative.
Basket Total
Total(t) = Σ P_item(t) for all items in basketInflation Data Sources
Country inflation rates are historical long-term averages from official statistical agencies and international organizations:
Assumptions & Limitations
Uniform inflation across categories
The model applies one inflation rate to all items. In reality, food, energy, and housing inflate at different rates. The model captures the aggregate structural trend, not category-specific dynamics.
Static basket composition
The basket does not change over time. In practice, consumption patterns shift — but the purpose is to compare the same goods across monetary systems, not to model evolving consumer behavior.
Base year: 2020
Prices are calibrated to approximately 2020 levels using publicly available data. Minor variations from actual 2020 prices do not materially affect the long-term projection since the structural trend (exponential fiat growth vs. near-flat UVD) dominates.
UVD 0.2% drift assumption
This is a modeling choice, not a protocol guarantee. A basket-indexed currency aims for near-zero real price drift, but minor fluctuations from supply-demand dynamics are expected. The 0.2% represents a conservative upper bound.
Source Code
function simulateBasketPrice(countryCode, years = 20) {
const basket = BASKETS[countryCode];
const country = COUNTRY_INFLATION[countryCode];
for (let y = 0; y <= years; y++) {
const fiatMultiplier = (1 + country.rate) ^ y;
const uvdMultiplier = (1 + 0.002) ^ y;
items = basket.items.map(item => ({
fiatPrice: item.basePrice × fiatMultiplier,
uvdPrice: item.basePrice × uvdMultiplier,
}));
fiatTotal = sum(items.fiatPrice);
uvdTotal = sum(items.uvdPrice);
}
}Full source: simulation.ts on GitHub