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Cute Russian comic. The home of the official English version is here if anyone wants to skip ahead (or support them): https://boosty.to/gabiconomics-en
Agio (from Italian aggio) is - simply put - an exchange rate... with a twist.
Historically, agio referred to a premium paid above nominal value when exchanging depreciated paper money for full-value metallic coins (such as gold or silver) of the same denomination. It reflected the difference in real value between weaker and stronger forms of currency and was especially common during periods of monetary instability or inflation.
In modern usage, agio has become a broader commercial term, referring to exchange rate differences, premiums, or discounts in financial transactions. It is used in contexts such as bond pricing and foreign currency exchange, where it denotes the difference between nominal (or face) value and market value. While the original meaning tied specifically to currency conversion has largely become historical, the term has expanded to describe value differentials more generally and is sometimes even used in place of “exchange rate” in certain contexts.
I agree with you and find myself feeling a patronising tolerance of it. I hope it's going somewhere interesting though. Creative people can have little a crank object of interest if it doesn't get in the way of otherwise seeing the world clearly. I feel like, while it could go either way, I can't see it totally derailing the story or overshadowing the other more useful stuff.
I suppose exploring how currency works and how arbitrary and/or deceptive it can be might be valuable overall in interrogating the status quo economic system.
Have earlier issues had a focus on exploring something that is tangential to marxism? I feel like I've seen a few pages with the little explanatory text going into something either regionally specific or exploring something the author just thinks is neat.