HPMOR takes place in the 1990s, and importantly takes place before most people realized that the mysterious Quirrell was actually none other than the all-powerful nefarious amoral supergenius behind Lord Voldemort. Presumably, the exchange value of Quirrell points fluctuated over time—low during periods when they only seemed useful for getting favors from an eccentric Defense Professor, high as the Defense Professor became increasingly well-known for his extreme competence and mysterious proximity to important events at Hogwarts, then reaching an astronomically high value when it seemed that Quirrell was on the cusp of achieving total domination over all of human civilization forever, then finally crashing to around the current value after Quirrell was defeated and imprisoned indefinitely until such time as he might be safely healed.
Economists debate whether the current market value of Quirrell points derives more from the possibility of receiving favors from Quirrell in future scenarios where he is revived (whether during a utopian far-future or a disastrous near-term return of Lord Voldemort), or merely from the fact that since only around 21 thousand Quirrell points were minted before its anonymous founder disappeared, Quirrell points form a sound monentary basis for a noninflationary store of value.
(heavy spoilers for ending of HPMOR):
HPMOR takes place in the 1990s, and importantly takes place before most people realized that the mysterious Quirrell was actually none other than the all-powerful nefarious amoral supergenius behind Lord Voldemort. Presumably, the exchange value of Quirrell points fluctuated over time—low during periods when they only seemed useful for getting favors from an eccentric Defense Professor, high as the Defense Professor became increasingly well-known for his extreme competence and mysterious proximity to important events at Hogwarts, then reaching an astronomically high value when it seemed that Quirrell was on the cusp of achieving total domination over all of human civilization forever, then finally crashing to around the current value after Quirrell was defeated and imprisoned indefinitely until such time as he might be safely healed.
Economists debate whether the current market value of Quirrell points derives more from the possibility of receiving favors from Quirrell in future scenarios where he is revived (whether during a utopian far-future or a disastrous near-term return of Lord Voldemort), or merely from the fact that since only around 21 thousand Quirrell points were minted before its anonymous founder disappeared, Quirrell points form a sound monentary basis for a noninflationary store of value.
I have added spoiler-tags to your comment. Do not spoil the end of HPMOR on LW for unsuspecting readers!