Questions tagged [economy]
For questions regarding wealth, trade, or financial concepts.
656
questions
5
votes
3answers
255 views
What jobs would people work in a frontier railroad town? [closed]
What would people do in 1860s railroad towns?
In a place similar to frontier America, it seems towns are built around very clear purposes. A majority of people would follow the town specific ...
41
votes
29answers
5k views
Justifying Affordable Bespoke Spaceships
Any story about an independent, self-owned tramp spaceship crew tends to implicitly or explicitly raise the question of how the crew got a spaceship, how it afforded it, and why it doesn't just sell ...
0
votes
3answers
120 views
Corporate Overlord [closed]
So I have a company that currently makes about as much as like... say Apple, but is expanding in multiple markets. It's probably going to have a monopoly on several product types in the next couple ...
25
votes
13answers
10k views
Is it possible to have a wealthy country without a middle class?
I'm trying to create well-off country, which judging solely by GDP per capita would be considered wealthy with something like 60,000 USD per capita. However the country middle class is very small.
Is ...
8
votes
3answers
257 views
Which moon is most favourable as a refuelling station?
My hypothetical gas giant has five major moons. Three of those moons are icy bodies with abundant water ice and volatiles. Any of these could provide fuel for translunar spacecraft, or for spacecraft ...
1
vote
0answers
122 views
What is the limit of Graphene CPUs? [closed]
In the world I'm building, set roughly 350 years in the future, the humans have colonized the Solar System and other systems beyond using a hyperlane network discovered at the edges of the Solar ...
1
vote
3answers
207 views
Real-time planned economy with feedback
What about a society that would function the following way:
Someone creates an idea of a product or service and posts it on a special site in the Internet.
People vote for the idea indicating amounts ...
6
votes
4answers
941 views
Would it be possible to set up a franchise in the ancient world?
The night queen has invaded the northernmost part of easteros with an army of ice wightwalkers. They have surrounded a castle called summerfall, trapping our heroes inside. Various armies of different ...
4
votes
3answers
112 views
How would digital currency work on a intergalactic scale with limited FTL loopholes?
Another question got me interested in this. How would finances work when there would frequently be long delays for confirmations of transactions? Let's say there are Jump Gates/Artificial Wormholes at ...
32
votes
12answers
8k views
Crime rates in a post-scarcity economy
A post-scarcity civilisation is one where the automatisation of production and a universal basic income system have made it impossible to suffer unwillingly from the lack of means to satisfy the ...
26
votes
17answers
6k views
Justification of physical currency in an interstellar civilization?
I have seen a similar-ish question on here, but it doesn't quite match my inquiry.
Suppose you have an interstellar civilization (the means of travel between stars being stable two-way wormholes on ...
4
votes
5answers
233 views
What is the cheapest way to move large amounts of trade goods to orbit?
Given a world with similar size and atmospheric composition to Earth that has a commodity export, be it grain or oil etc, that has trade with other planets, what would be best way to orbit massive ...
24
votes
13answers
8k views
Can there be a single technologically advanced nation, in a continent full of non-technologically advanced nations?
The run down here is that there's this continent, and there is a lot of unclaimed land where countries haven't formed yet and a lot of tribes but there are some actual countries like kingdoms, (where ...
9
votes
4answers
882 views
What are the potential pitfalls when using metals as a currency?
Somewhat related question, but not the same goal
In my current concept metals (from nickel to iridium, based on density) are used in the magic system. So in a way they are directly tied to power.
I ...
5
votes
10answers
426 views
Limit immortality technology by cost
The setting is the modern day, US. All aspects (unless addressed by the question) can be assumed to be the same as our current, real Earth.
This question has the assumption that a technology exists ...
10
votes
11answers
2k views
How to market an anarchic city as a tourism spot to people living in civilized areas?
So, in my Post-Apocalyptic world, there’s a city down in South Nevada known as Vegas. Unlike the rest of the majority of North America, Vegas was not hit by nuclear warheads in its near vicinity. But, ...
5
votes
6answers
266 views
How would a private global security force receive funding?
Intro:
In my story, there’s an organization VERY similar to S.H.I.E.L.D. from the MCU (Pre Winter Soldier). The changes though are that this organization is more heavily rooted in realism and the ...
-5
votes
4answers
192 views
What would happen if everybody received $1B? [closed]
My wife is an accountant and she refused to listen to my stupid idea. Before I go and ask economists, I would like to ask Worldbuilding :)
CONTEXT:
As we hopefully are aware, increasing automation ...
8
votes
3answers
262 views
Minimum level of technology to have a modern tax system?
As is my understanding (this is not my specialty), for the vast majority of history the crown (whatever sovereign entity exists at the head of the state) gathered income through a few means:
Tariffs (...
2
votes
6answers
227 views
Would separating people into 2 groups help the economy in any way?
Would splitting humans into two groups, those that work and live during the night, and those that work and live during the day, help the economy in any way?
What would be other considerations of ...
20
votes
6answers
4k views
Personal Teleportation: From Rags to Riches
I'm looking to investigate one aspect of the "real world" implications of teleportation as a super power, much like I did with this question.
In this case, I'm trying to figure out the best method(s) ...
15
votes
7answers
2k views
What would be the benefits of having both a state and local currencies?
The Hegemony has a global (technically interplanetary currency) known simply as the Hegemony Credit. Unlike some currencies the credit does not have smaller denominations only credits. In theory the ...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
Building a underworld [closed]
My story is about a royal court that rules the underworld, the place between our world and heaven or hell. My question is, if it is a underworld where everyone is supposed to be dead, would there be ...
2
votes
3answers
105 views
How do I create costs of living for people of different incomes in a society? [closed]
Something tells me costs are a bit relative based on location, at least for things like houses. So if my society or nation state is not based off of America it may have different homes and different ...
33
votes
30answers
9k views
What would be the most expensive material to an intergalactic society?
Imagine an intergalactic society that has the following abilities\tech:
Warp drive allows trips between stars in days and galaxies in weeks.
Able to live in spaceships for long time without health ...
5
votes
4answers
327 views
A prison which guards itself
Imagine a dictator who owns a massive prison. The tech level is 12th-15th century, and the dictator has very few guards at his disposal. The prison already has all necessary resources such as food and ...
11
votes
7answers
2k views
How would a Dictatorship make a country more successful?
How would a Dictatorship make a country more successful (Wealthy, politically and materialistically powerful, secure, stable)?
Background:
In this instance the country is a monarchy to begin with. ...
23
votes
5answers
4k views
Would a National Army of mercenaries be a feasible idea?
Would it be practical for a small, largely isolated country to have a drafted army to be hired out to other countries as guards for caravans or a policing force? The soldiers would all serve around 4 ...
0
votes
3answers
122 views
Modelling platinum supply
Given an asteroid mining company manages to deliver platinum (ore) to Earth, how would they need to set their selling price to account for delivery, given that today on Earth 1g platinum costs $30 to ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
Crater sized bore hole on Ceres, how would you make it economically profitable? [closed]
Ceres is a bustling port within the belt and a commercial, entertainment, and economic hub dealing with the markets of both the inner and outer planets. Ceres is home to the largest colonies in all of ...
1
vote
2answers
91 views
Doing business with time magic in ancient-medieval world
What business could I in theory do if I have Time magic which can reverse or accelerate time of inanimate/non sentient objects in a limited area?
This is in relation to my question,
Liquor making ...
0
votes
1answer
98 views
What are the economic effects of an electricity shutdown that lasts weeks in big city? [closed]
How this affects the economy of the big tech industries like factories and the media like radio stations and television?
What are the effects that this brings in the life of normal people?
1
vote
2answers
148 views
How would an event that killed 80-90% of my world's population in the past have an effect on my world's economy and culture? [closed]
My world is a medieval age with magic setting, with a fantasy style map (assume flat earth. Not entirely true but accurate enough). The world is several times bigger than Earth.
An Empire which ...
6
votes
3answers
208 views
How can humans enslave a slightly more intelligent species? [closed]
In my story, there is a war between humans and a slightly more advanced and clever species. The humans outnumber the other species and end up winning the war because the humans spread a virus to the ...
3
votes
1answer
82 views
Trading ships simulation and maybe some pirates [closed]
I don't know if this is an acceptable question (it's not even a question), but I like the site artwork and I built a world.
Playing with Javascript, I came up with a sea world. Buggy test here http://...
4
votes
2answers
172 views
Medieval Windmills and Milling
The Millers' Guild needs all aspiring Mathemagicians!
Medieval Damascus has been expanding its crop-growing land because all these European Crusaders are eating too much bread. Unfortunately the ...
5
votes
5answers
223 views
What are some reasons an employer could legitimately require your voting rights as part of your employment?
In accordance with Citizens United and with the acceptance that the real wealth creation of this nation is created by corporations, we hereby declare that the voting rights of corporations have been ...
2
votes
1answer
98 views
Basing an economy around Coal, Slaves, and War Industry. Does it seem practical?
So right now I've been tasked to come up with a world for a story that centers around what we could probably describe as post-civil war era. Coal is a resource needed for fueling machines and modes of ...
2
votes
4answers
144 views
How to make non-tradable sector unattractive for ambitious entrepreneurs?
I'm writing a story about a government of a former colony who wants to industrialize the country and build its manufacturing base. However too many entrepreneurs prefer to invest into non-tradable ...
22
votes
8answers
3k views
Insurance in a world with Superheroes
The less likely an event is, the easier it is to insure against it, as the risk is low. Meteor insurance, if it exists, is probably cheap, and still pretty profitable for the company, as the number of ...
1
vote
6answers
355 views
After evacuation to a new planet, how would a population switch from a barter system to a monetary system with banks?
Okay, context. There's a modern human sub-species (about 9,000) that needs to evacuate earth to avoid genocide from their human counter-parts. They have access to a portal to take them to a new viable ...
1
vote
7answers
398 views
Would it be realistic to have a world with no currency, just trade?
In the world I’m creating, there’s no specific form of currency. People trade for goods- you could buy clothes from a merchant and in return, they could get food, valuable items, things that could be ...
9
votes
7answers
1k views
Can a kingdom be destabilised by an influx of enemy gold?
A few years ago I read a role-playing game supplement that described a cold war between kingdom Good and kingdom Bad. Both kingdoms used metal coins with silver as the most common followed by gold. ...
4
votes
5answers
187 views
Hypothetical: Could living standards improve in a zero economic and population growth society?
This is a hypothetical question, with the intention of exploring the nature of wealth and standard of living.
By zero growth, I mean that the output of goods and services produced per person does not ...
1
vote
0answers
116 views
How to explain US economic collapse? [closed]
I'm creating a world where US collapsed as the largest economy in the world, shrinking by more than half of its annual GDP. The new congress slashes all the foreign spending, defense spending goes to ...
1
vote
3answers
206 views
Markets for the forfeit lives of convicted domestic abusers
A free-market solution to preventing domestic-abuse
A society of normal humans have constructed a socio-economic system where victims of violent domestic abuse are given a murder-right over their ...
2
votes
6answers
243 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 ...
-5
votes
11answers
305 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
123 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
178 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'...
