Board 8 > Where do Pokemon Trainers get money from?

(+) Yeah! (+)

In the games you get money by defeating other trainers. And when you lose a fight you lose money. So it feels like all the Pokemon trainers more or less "trade" money with each other by battling. But some of that money gets spent on other resources. So shouldn't that limit the total amount of money available in the "trainer economy"? After all, the money spent at Poke Marts doesn't go back into the pockets of the various Trainers you fight. Most of them don't have jobs. So shouldn't the available cash they have to pay each other off eventually dwindle and after some time shouldn't all the Pokemon Trainers be tapped out?

I trying to think about how all of this can work in the lore, but I'm struggling. But then again I don't have a degree in Economics so maybe someone else can figure it out.

a lot of trainers are adult people with a job, i assume it just trickles down to the weird bug kids somehow

You can sell berries

also the gyms are probably federally funded or something, so some cash gets out to the trainers that way

Those rich boys are loaded

I think the kid trainers pay you from their allowances. I'm pretty sure at least one trainer in the series mentions this but I could be mistaken. The adult trainers probably have regular jobs, and in fact a lot of them have their trainers type determined by their profession. Roark works in the mines, Lenora runs the museum, etc. I assume the kid trainers also get money by beating adults with jobs.

Grand_Kirby posted...

After all, the money spent at Poke Marts doesn't go back into the pockets of the various Trainers you fight.

Not entirely true. You can sell nuggets and such, which I assume other trainers find along their journey as well.

Meowths using Payday
Although, I saw a video where someone calculated the financial capacity of Payday and it's really not much. Might not even be enough to feed the cats.

There's a lot of crap laying around in pokemon world you can sell

I always figured that while the trainers are off screen they're either working a job or earning an allowance

The really good ones obviously get their revenue from streams, prize money from competitions and selling their souls to sponsors, in much the same way professional chess players operate. The mediocre trainers definitely supplement their income through other jobs. And the ones who suck are just hobbyists handing out pocket money as courtesy.

Also, not to get all palworldy but there is definitely a market for catching and selling the cool pokemon that rich people can't catch themselves

big nugget

Sheep007 posted...

Also, not to get all palworldy but there is definitely a market for catching and selling the cool pokemon that rich people can't catch themselves

Or selling them to restaurants as food.

catesdb posted...

big nugget

thats what they call me

From other trainers

They have NIL deals

They rob anyone who doesn't have Pokemon.

their parents

in S/V it's never been easier to just make money by selling all the random stuff you find lying around.

i think the battle frontier/tower/subway/whatever plays a large part here-those need a ton of mostly-interchangeable decent trainers to fill up slots, maybe theres an app that lets you put in a shift whenever youre needed