Questions tagged [economy]
For questions regarding wealth, trade, or financial concepts.
610 questions
0
votes
1answer
12 views
What methods might a government employ to stay wealthy?
I currently have a world-spanning empire doing great deeds such as supporting the poor while creating massive pieces of machinery and swimming in art and lavish decoration. Surely they have a ...
-4
votes
11answers
228 views
The Emperor bans the number seven on pain of death. Does this inevitably disrupt a medieval society? (trade and commerce) [closed]
The medieval Emperor is up to his tricks again. He has decided that the number seven is unlucky. Despite advice from his courtiers that it can't be done, he bans its use on penalty of death by any of ...
5
votes
3answers
106 views
How can I make magical projectiles cost effective enough to be practical?
For many centuries, magical armor has outpaced projectiles in warfare. Armor is enchanted with runes in order to make it more effective, as well as proscribed certain abilities to it. Runes are ...
5
votes
2answers
151 views
Minimum percentage of immune when epidemic lowers IQ in the 80's?
I have an epidemic of unknown origin spreading across the earth. The effects are decrease in cognitive ability to around 80+ IQ. So we have a surgeons who don't know how to operate, engineers who don'...
2
votes
2answers
137 views
Creating a scientist-only country in our world [closed]
Wanting to innovate humanity, a multi-billionaire decided to start a new country. He was able to convince a country in Europe to sell a large portion of their land to him.
He then constructed ...
0
votes
0answers
50 views
Universal Intergalactic Currency [duplicate]
This might be totally opinion based but I really need all the help I can get because I have serious writers block. I’m writing a story where the world is vastly advanced, set in the 24th century and ...
6
votes
7answers
332 views
Would this scheme be profitable?
In the not so distant 2040s the world is heading towards a devastating energy crisis, climate change is slowly beginning to take its toll, and unemployment is on the rise globally. But one corporation ...
1
vote
6answers
291 views
Ways to somewhat balance a gem based magic system so as to avoid total oligarchy
Problem
In my world, the magic system depends on access to a certain type of gem. This gem is plentiful, but only found in a single place, with 6-8 mines. My magic system is totally skewed in favor ...
2
votes
5answers
294 views
With an impending cataclysmic event, when would the economy break down?
Motivational musings:
If there was an impending, unavoidable, and universally accepted cataclysmic event that will absolutely destroy everything, how long would it take for the economy to break down? ...
26
votes
24answers
5k views
Why would magic wane? It's so useful [closed]
It's a fairly common theme that magic was a more powerful force in the past but as we come into modern times it has got weaker and maybe extinct.
But why? The ability to use magic would be a huge ...
25
votes
17answers
5k views
How can I encourage responsible business practices among necromancers?
I am DONNA TRUMPET, the first female President of the United states reborn, and one of the greatest leaders in world history. I have managed to recently pass the 103rd amendment to our Constitution ...
6
votes
6answers
384 views
How can resurrecting dead employees be made profitable for a company?
Doanaldin Trumpet, the first female president of the Corporate States of America, has passed a revolutionary bill called the D.E.D (despicable exploitation of the dead) act. This allows employers ...
5
votes
6answers
2k views
How can you build a secure, pre-digital distributed ledger?
A distributed ledger is a 'database' without a central administrator or central storage. Instead, each copy of the database replicates and saves an identical copy of the data and updates itself ...
23
votes
12answers
8k views
How does a super-power salesman not get shut down for legal reasons?
I am in trouble: my boss, a multi-millionaire, has just come up with a scheme, but it has problems and he wants me to solve them.
The whole thing started when he saw this picture:
This gave him an ...
0
votes
2answers
142 views
How to steal money if you have a quantum computer? [closed]
I'm writing about whistle blower who discovers that his employer, huge profitable corporation is just a front operation. All their diverse products and services are a sham, and the company is ...
4
votes
3answers
115 views
Ideal Place For Kenya Spaceport?
Its 20 seconds in the future. The space age is truly dawning this time. And I the CEO of a wealthy aerospace company, am looking for the perfect place to set up shop with my new spaceport. I've ...
9
votes
2answers
498 views
How long could scavenging be economically feasible in the post apocalyptic world?
So, the world has come down to a crashing halt. Nukes rain down from the sky, after the Cold War finally became a Hot War. Now, humanity is left with a wasteland.
After the big one, cities have been ...
4
votes
7answers
207 views
Most cost-effective way to fence in an alien wildlife preserve
As a linguist aboard a terraforming mission, you arrive at a new planet. The planet, orbiting a G2V star, has copious amounts of wildlife and some sentient lifeforms. However, you, interpreting an old ...
1
vote
2answers
92 views
What would be the day-to-day ramifications of a post-encryption digitally-connected cyberpunk society? [closed]
If any encrypted data could be decoded within a day (or shorter, to the point of hours, given enough computing power and weak encryption), all wireless transmissions may be intercepted, and all copper/...
0
votes
1answer
137 views
What sort of expenses apply to governments in D&D? [closed]
I’m working on creating a “balance sheet” of sorts for my new campaign world and have calculated out tax income but I’m having trouble figuring out what expenses a mayor/lord/duke/King would have in ...
66
votes
11answers
12k views
The first McDonald's restaurant on Mars
The McDonald's fast food company is the world's largest restaurant chain which prides itself with offering (almost) the same standardized menu all around the globe...
...this globe.
When humanity ...
21
votes
12answers
6k views
How could a goverment sell prisoners as slaves (without giving advantage to richs)?
Imagine a society (medieval, but that isn't very important here) that has approved slavery. You can trade, buy, sell and hire slaves at will in the market.
Introduction
Slaves are usually "harvested"...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
What did shipping/storage crates look like in the Middle-Ages? [closed]
If you search "medieval crate" on google you get 2 things: 3D crates that look suspiciously modern or you get real, chest-like boxes. I'm wondering if the latter is the norm for the time period?
8
votes
5answers
2k views
Rings as a monetary system
Can rings be used as a monetary system? are there any flaws?
I took inspiration from Celtic ring money, ring made from different metals- the value of a ring dependent on the material its made out of. ...
2
votes
1answer
91 views
What is a reasonable size for the elite of a dictatorial, neofeudalist superpower?
The Medwedian Democratic Federation is a dictatorship that occupies the northernmost part of Eurasia (roughly northern half of Russia) in an alternative world. Due to a better climate and slightly ...
4
votes
0answers
57 views
What are ways to destroy a country's government/monarchy by using the underground/black market/illegal doings? [closed]
I'm creating a story in which the main characters want nothing more than the complete and absolute downfall of an entire country, starting from the top and its royalty all the way to the corruption of ...
5
votes
5answers
172 views
Consequences to the region near single battle front
Scenario
Medieval technology and warfare.
There's a war between two sides of a continent.
Said Continent has a large mountain range crossing the whole land.
At the north, there's and opening to this ...
-4
votes
1answer
63 views
World with 2 billion people [closed]
How much would fertility rate need to drop for the world to stabilise at 2 billion people in 200 years time?
Would the world with this amount of people be vastly more peaceful and prosperous?
2
votes
3answers
110 views
What would an industry do with a microbe on Titan? [closed]
The setting would be on Titan in the 2200s. Because the institute preventing intrusions on new worlds that have possible organisms has very little money, they scan Titan on the surface, they don't see ...
11
votes
12answers
3k views
Country at constant war - Is a permanent powerful economy possible?
In the fantasy novel I am writing, there is a world-wide war going on. The war spans several continents and has many fronts, but the actual fighting is very similar to that of WWI - mostly waiting in ...
8
votes
9answers
7k views
Using fire as currency?
Long ago, modern humans died off. Only a few people remained, and they made all sorts of GMO plants, like moss that grows extremely quickly and can be dried into flour. Houses are made out of wood......
4
votes
5answers
381 views
Medieval gem values
I'm working on developing a realistic economy for my setting, but one thing my research has failed at is finding numbers that I can use to create a gem system that can be used to price gems of various ...
4
votes
5answers
263 views
How could the government not prevent a medical company from helping terrorists? [closed]
Recently, the government has found out that the biggest medical corporation (responsible for plenty of technological progress) has been financing and providing material aid to an organization ...
15
votes
15answers
3k views
Fastest way for an invincible young immortal to make $1 million USD?
So, I gave a $100 bill to a homeless person a few months ago who gave me "God's blessings" in return. Apparently, that conveyed immortality and invincibility upon me as I no longer age (I think) and ...
3
votes
2answers
200 views
What would a recession look like in medieval times?
I'm working on a fantasy setting for a game, the gameplay of which includes trading and government in a fantasy world that is experiencing a negative trend in trade.
The setting is outwardly ...
1
vote
4answers
168 views
What would happen if the quantities of silver and gold mined by humans were switched in a fantasy world?
Basically the title. What would happen if, in the world I'm writing, people have thus far found considerably more gold deposits than silver?
Specifically, I'm wondering how this might affect their ...
0
votes
3answers
171 views
How could a hacktivist group punish the political elite of a country? [closed]
In what ways could a group of hackers punish the political elite of country (like russia) so disastrously that its economy and politics will take decades to recover? The answer should lean more on ...
4
votes
5answers
301 views
Maximally Non-Geographic States
Imagine a world in which a household can choose which Commonwealth to be a part of, much the way that you might choose a cell phone provider or a religious denomination or a health insurance company.
...
5
votes
3answers
164 views
What pre-information age jobs benefit from running at a higher speed?
Chronopolis is a city built on modern time-technology ("chronology") and is split into three sectors, slowtown, midtown, and fasttown, whose residents function at 1/2, 1, and 2 times natural speed, ...
-2
votes
4answers
73 views
Regime instability of a government [closed]
Why would it be in the interest of the elites of certain country, which is an oligarchy or some form of an authoritarian regime to transition to democracy?
-5
votes
3answers
282 views
Oligarchy as a form of government
Can a country with an oligarchy as an offical form of government be successful and have prosperous citizens?
1
vote
6answers
240 views
How might an economy in which multiple planets are involved function?
I created the above illustration to help convey my meaning, here is what everything means so that you can read it effectively:
E = Earth
V = Venus
M = Mars
The dots in the lower left hand corner ...
7
votes
5answers
216 views
Backing Futuristic “Credits” with Energy?
A lot of worldbuilders that I know and have spoken too, insist that unbacked currencies and items with constantly changing values would be what the economy is based on. I, however, am skeptical of ...
21
votes
20answers
9k views
Why would an immortal make good on his loan?
Premise
My world that has undergone a transformative breakthrough in biology and genetics. It's not just the ultra-rich who have it; rather, everyone is immortal. However, this world's understanding ...
3
votes
3answers
121 views
How low could global hegemon be in economic power ranking?
Currently USA is both world largest economy and a global superpower.
If China growth continues that will change in near future.
I'm building an imaginary world where global hegemon is NOT an economic ...
-1
votes
1answer
133 views
All disease and sickness suddenly cured in humanity, what happens next? [closed]
It’s 2018 and a powerful magic is used to warp reality. Every living human suffering from any disease or sickness is suddenly cured as if it never existed (down to a genetic level). However, this is ...
5
votes
4answers
385 views
Can using zombies for labor be more cost effective for an employer than a living worker?
In the future, Big Business owns the government. Corporations such as Target, Walmart, General Motors, etc... now have a major hand in deciding policies in the country. This has a major impact on how ...
6
votes
1answer
574 views
Economy in a society where 99% of the world adult population is owned by the other 1% [closed]
We are in a world similar to our current world (with the same technology level notably), but there is a huge catch: everything is considered as property, including human beings. Every human child is ...
3
votes
6answers
183 views
Economy vs Defensibility for cities?
Ok this is 2 questions but they are so closely related I'm sure it's OK
The Premise
The world is geographically similar to Earth.
The kingdom has the same climate as Germany.
The technology is High ...
1
vote
2answers
577 views
He bought ALL the apples? [closed]
This is a simple premise, that I think could yield a lot of interesting interactions - especially in areas that wouldn't be obvious straight away.
In a current-day Earth, what (if any) large-scale ...
