The inexhaustible commodity

Sophie Vallier, the sharp-witted innkeeper’s daughter in the quiet French village of Painponçain, was among the earliest pioneers of algorithmic dynamic pricing—long before algorithms existed. As the story goes—one we are all too fond of believing—Napoleon Bonaparte stopped at her inn in 1814 and ordered a simple omelet. When presented with an astronomically inflated bill, the Emperor asked in astonishment, “Are eggs so rare in this part of France?” To which Vallier replied with soft composure: “Eggs, Sire? No. But Emperors? Yes!” This tale is more than a historical anecdote; it was an early declaration of a new economic paradigm—one that dictates that the value of a commodity is never determined by what it is, but by who demands it. […]