I Want to Know About Eorzean Economics

[Enkidoh]

You also have to remember that most of the social upheaval seen in Ishgard and Coerthas at the moment is actually due to recent occurrences - prior to the Calamity Coerthas for instance was not an icebound wasteland, it was actually a temperate (though slightly cool) highland area, which supported extensive farming and agriculture (so much so, a never implemented Disciple of the Land based on farming cattle, called 'Shepherd', was meant to have it's Guildhall in Falcon's Nest!). The aetheric damage wrought by the Calamity however, locked the entire region in an endless winter, decimating whole towns and villages overnight. Thus this had flow-on effects in Ishgard, suddenly food was in short supply, and worse, people fled the outlying areas for the city proper, which only added to the misery.

As for chocobos, they indeed do seem to be the Holy See's main export - chocobos are naturally native to the Coerthas and Dravnian regions, and the citystate had a long tradition of chocobo breeding. So much so, they virtually gained the monopoly on it, to the point they could cut off supplies of birds to the other city states on a whim, which is actually what happened a few years prior to the Calamity - a virulent disease called 'chocobo blight' spread like wildfire through Eorzea around 1571/1572 6AE, decimating the chocobo population in Eorzea, which was not helped by Ishgard's insistence on only allowing gelded male birds to be available to the rest of the realm (and thus prevent another citystate threatening their monopoly on breeding).

Accordingly Ishgard quarantined their chocobos and refused to send any healthy birds to the other city states, until the blight diminished enough that the supply was reinstated, with restrictions (this is the lore reason why in 1.0 chocobos were not actually available to be ridden from the start but were added in a patch, and why you can only get a chocobo by joining a Grand Company, it's a restriction imposed by Ishgard).

[Morningstar1337]

Accordingly Ishgard quarantined their chocobos and refused to send any healthy birds to the other city states, until the blight diminished enough that the supply was reinstated, with restrictions (this is the lore reason why in 1.0 chocobos were not actually available to be ridden from the start but were added in a patch, and why you can only get a chocobo by joining a Grand Company, it's a restriction imposed by Ishgard).

Then how did Godbert ever get his hands on enough chocobos for the races? Up to Thordian's demise, Ishgard is not the kind of people that would put recreational activities (or anything else) over their dogma.

[Belhi]

I believe due to what happened in Coerthas Ishgard was forced to send chocobos to gridanian stables for breeding since they were hard pressed to care for all the chocobos in Ishgardian stables with reduced resources. This wouldn't be whole surprising since Ishgard seems to be a little bit more open to Gridania than most of the rest of Eorzea. Likewise the Botanist Guild was responsible for helping to recultivate the flora of Central Coerthas and Gridanian trained botanists actually work for the Ishgardian houses.

As for Agriculture, I don't think the Sky Islands offer a great alternative as far as food production goes. This is a little bit spoilery for the Botany 50+ story but due to the high concentrations of Aetheric Wind and Water in the soil compared to Aetheric Earth (the property that give the Islands their floating quality) it is actually quite challenging to grow crops there as many traditional crop types struggle under the soil conditions and the with the exposed Altitude.

[FJerome]

Pre-calamity Isghard also seems to have traded in timber (this seems to have been Hemlock Village's economic base according to this levequest). It may have even been the chief source of it for Eorzea, given Gridania's semi-religious taboos against excessive logging.

They're also the sole source of the famed Isghardian Steel, though like everything else they produce almost all of it seems to be consumed by the war effort with very little left for export.

[myahele]

Then how did Godbert ever get his hands on enough chocobos for the races? Up to Thordian's demise, Ishgard is not the kind of people that would put recreational activities (or anything else) over their dogma.

Additionally, Chocobo racing was as popular sport for Ul'dahn nobles. My best guess is that Ul'dah had gotten breeding Chocobo (not too hard to believe given the Syndicate's influence) and eventually bred them as racing chocobos. Even then, it was only for nobility so it was off limits to most. That and I imagine a racing Chocobo is not desired for more manual labor/ combat.

On the subject of Ishgard, wasn't there a "herder" guild icon in 1.0, given how pre-calamity Coerthas was pretty good farmland, I imagine they exported livestock.

Of all the City-states, it also seem as if Gridania and Ishgard has the best relationship politically and/or economically.

[Atoli]

Up to Thordian's demise, Ishgard is not the kind of people that would put recreational activities (or anything else) over their dogma.

Ishgard actually has a whole mini-colloseum for chocobo fights and races (belonging to house Dzemael), and it's been around for a long time, since one adult NPC tells you a story about how she loved it when her father took her to some legendary fight when she was a little child.
A pair of other NPCs talk about how they shouldn't bet on the fights anymore because it can ruin entire existences and one even tries to make a bet with you that he is not addicted to betting on racing chocobos at all

So Ishgard does seem to value recreational activities just as much as any other city state
And the racing chocobos obviously already existed, so no new lines had to be bred or anything. I believe Belhi's suggestion on that makes the most sense; that the catastrophe and constant winter kind of forced Ishgard to take up outward trade again. Gridania is the most obvious choice because of close proximity and for having the things Ishgard was most lacking at the time (food and firewood). I imagine Gridania wanted some of those female chocobos in return...^^

My best guess is that Ul'dah had gotten breeding Chocobo (not too hard to believe given the Syndicate's influence) and eventually bred them as racing chocobos.

Ul'dah does not have breeding chocobos, Gridania has them. If you go to get a racing chocobo for the Gold Saucer, you get send to Gridania to get one. All you get from the Gold Saucer is the permit for one (male or female depending on your preference) to be put into their stables.