Dragons prevent the dissemination of wealth. A few well placed dragons and Geatland would come to a stop. Dragons could be seen as bad, but deadly and accomplished warrior-leaders. Dragons and Grendels could be seen as holding some virtues. They are deadly, unflinching and persistent.
Jewelry is the quid pro quo for the system when it works.
This is an early society getting ready to go beyond tribal level. It has the technology to do that. Read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel when he describes New Guinea where there is an absence of a set of social rules and an enforcing authority. There is constant, destructive feuding, and a disproportionate amount of energy goes into members of the society bumping other members off over women, possessions, etc. As it stands in this society, nothing is going to get any better and there is a high probability that things are going to get worse.