economy why not thing be cheaper like jp servers

[Jijifli]

Player based economy means that players set the prices. If SE wanted to make them more lower and even, then they'd have to force prices, which players would not enjoy.

Also take into account supply and demand.

[KeiranOlive]

Generally, the more crafters and gatherers on a server, the lower the prices. On Balmung, the largest population NA server, we have a lot, so the prices are about 1/3 of those on the smaller NA servers. I have heard the prices on Japanese servers are more reasonable, but I haven't checked to see if they are similar to Balmung's or if they are even lower. I would be interested in hearing more about the similarities and differences from those on other servers.

[Zojha]

Also take into account supply and demand.

In order for supply and demand to produce a socially and economically desirable outcome, the criteria of perfect competition have to be met.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_competition

Ingame economy is dominated by oligopolies which are acting as price and quantity setters, rather than price takers. It is doubtful this situation is different on the JP markets - the price setters just set the prices differently.

The why is anyone's guess. I have my doubts competition is the sole factor - even on a Server like Balmung with incredibly little RMT and a large amount of players, it took months for the prices of the Anima stuff to arrive at a price comparable to the JP day 1 prices.