#incomes

That's a great question!

From the bulk of the evidence we get in ACOK, the population and incomes of Dragonstone (which keep in mind comes with overlordship of only a few islands in Blackwater Bay) are decidedly modest, since it can only produce 3,000 men altogether - although there was a period where House Velaryon's commercial wealth would have significantly boosted the income of their royal liege lord.

The flip side is that the demands on the Prince of Dragonstone's purse are relatively modest - because they're not really a military or economic powerhouse, essentially their demesne incomes only really need to support the personal household of the royal heir in adequate levels of royal splendor. Any major project that would require significant expenditures of revenue above the purse of the Prince would likely be funded by asking the Iron Throne to give them some money.

page 481 - value attaches to tradition, there is monetary value ascribed to authenticity. A handicraft made by an artisan holds value because it holds a promise that it does not come from destruction and will not be easily destroyed, that it didn’t rely on the abstract structure of a corporation or global trade networks. Implicit within it is a relationship, a person to person feeling that feels right because it is what humans had for millennia until we didn’t and everything became vapor and impossible to grasp.