Well, as I said, it's a very inaccurate estimate because of how much the global economy has changed over time. I wouldn't use my estimate in any serious, academic discussions on the subject. I'm confident that they cost $2.25 million in 1939-1941, but that's all I would say with any degree of certainty. It's also important to remember that a lot of the electronics and machinery on the Type VII were very expensive at the time because they were so advanced, but now they would be museum pieces or scrap metal. When economists talk about the cost of something they really mean "the cost of replacing that object," or "the cost producing the next copy of that object." Since there's only 1 Type VII left in the world today, and no one builds any of the subsystems that went into it, the cost of replacement would be astronomical. At the time, the Kriegsmarine commissioned 700+ Type VII's, so I assume that economies of scale brought the per-unit replacement costs down significantly.
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