Questions tagged [economy]
For questions regarding wealth, trade, or financial concepts.
832
questions
2
votes
3answers
142 views
How would closing borders and supply routes affect market prices? [closed]
This was originally posted in Role Playing Games but they felt it was better posted here (this will be used for D&D 5e, some people thought it might be relevant.)
I'm developing a world where ...
15
votes
12answers
4k views
How can I create a regulated marketplace for potion brewing?
Brewing potions have been a staple for witches for hundreds of years. These potions are cooked up within cauldrons, large pots specifically built to hold the magic from these concoctions. Older ...
6
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6answers
2k views
How sophisticated could a society be if knowledge depends only on some kind of religious cult or administrative group?
I been reading this question and it makes me think a lot. So I came with a question of my own.
In a resume, the post presents a world where everyone is illiterate. Some said that the society could be ...
24
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17answers
8k views
Why is this less profitable for an adventurer to craft and then sell an artefact, rather than to sell ingredients needed to craft the artefact?
Suppose we have standard world of fantasy RPG videogame. The MC (main character) earns money by killing monsters and then selling loot. Also, sometimes there are people happy to pay generous reward ...
2
votes
7answers
511 views
How can I explain the steady rising of slave requirements in order to complete a black magic ritual?
The continuous progression of magi-technology has slowly made the slave industry a relic of the past. The application of spells and rituals to solve everyday problems has made the produce from slave ...
6
votes
1answer
149 views
How to estimate the price of an animal in a fantasy setting, or why does a duck cost more then a chicken? [closed]
I realise now that this is not the right place to ask this question, but for anyone else who happens to stop by and is looking for a good reference to use to price their animals, I've found a resource ...
6
votes
8answers
1k views
Setting Relative Coinage Values
Lets say you had a state, technologically around the mid to late classical era, using a hard coinage. There are four types of coins:
The smallest coin is a paulum.
The second smallest is the radix, ...
18
votes
7answers
3k views
How to keep a town in the 1960s mostly isolated?
So, the lead up to the story is that a skinwalker drags injured people into the deep forest and nails them to trees before summoning a demon into each of them, leaving them there as parasites who ...
4
votes
1answer
261 views
Empire built and fed on mushrooms
Grass is plenty, bark is plenty, dirt is plenty.
those 3 materials can be converted into a self insulating biodegradable sturdy but flexible material which is 60% pure protein by calories, 100 grams ...
3
votes
3answers
211 views
What would the economy of a nomadic, spacefaring civilization look like? [closed]
For a writing project, I'm trying to break the mould of some others involved and depict nomadic people who travel in enormous colony-ships, searching for life-bearing worlds similar to their own and ...
8
votes
10answers
2k views
Could a culture have free-market capitalism without corporations? [closed]
Could a culture have free-market capitalism that never (or at least rarely ever) results in corporations, large trusts, or other such groups? This culture is made up of a single alien species that ...
3
votes
3answers
206 views
How can I encourage my population into debt slavery without hurting my economy?
The government of Amestris is controlled by powerful organizations known as guilds. These institutions are made up of special interest groups that bring together influential people, such as merchants, ...
1
vote
1answer
134 views
Speedrunning medicinal science
Many believe that being incredibly rich equals to being god on earth and in artificial situations, yes it would make sense... except it never happened.
All Kings and Queens got fooled, betrayed, ...
8
votes
6answers
4k views
Garlic as staple food for colonies?
Roleplaying in a survival game, building my own world and now I'm colonizing a new land.
For the sake of realism and immersion I want to find the most effective and efficient staple foods out there. I ...
9
votes
14answers
3k views
What are minimal changes to make truncated pyramid-shaped megabuildings a thing?
I love the look and feel of 30 or so stories tall, pyramid shaped megabuildings, with rich people on the outer shell, having windows, and poor pushed to the inside.
In our current climate and economic ...
2
votes
4answers
190 views
Neural wireless link: Buy your personal hive mind for only 399!
Tired of having to sleep? Tired of having to die? Tired of having to age? Tired of being weak? Tired of being short? Tired of being male or female? Tired of being human? Tired of being made of flesh?
...
2
votes
2answers
117 views
How long to recover from the chaos caused by a limited duplication spell
I am trying figure how long it will take to recover from the chaos that could happen to the modern economy if a spell that duplicate anything the size of a candy bar four times were to suddenly be ...
1
vote
3answers
99 views
Mining, Scavenging and Recycling in an artificial world
Billions of years ago, an extremely advanced civilization created an artificial world. Whether it is a ringworld, a shellworld, or something more isn't really relevant. This world's crust has a depth ...
4
votes
3answers
297 views
What are the most important factors that determine the balance of power between kings and nobles and merchants?
I am writing a fantasy world with post-medieval technology. Instead of just standard feudalism, I want mercantilism or capitalism to play at least some role in the power dynamics.
I am thinking about ...
35
votes
14answers
5k views
How can I keep my kingdom intact when the price of gold suddenly drops?
I am Queen Aerith the 3rd of Alagaesia. I rule a large and powerful nation in a time period technologically equivalent to the 17th century or so. Most of my world map is known, and cross-ocean trade ...
3
votes
7answers
313 views
How can I pivot my goon creation factory to a subscription based model?
I am a rising entrepreneur who has plans of cornering a lucrative niche market for myself. Whether you are a rising super villian in battle with heroes, or a criminal mastermind bent on taking over ...
-5
votes
2answers
119 views
How do I fix the unit of money/coins? [closed]
Ok so here's the thing, how is the the value of a coin and the value of items you buy with it decided?
After production is enough to fill the needs of the population, item to item trade comes to an ...
2
votes
3answers
135 views
Scenario for creating a world akin to cyberpunk
I was wondering if the debt of major developed countries (especially the USA) were to grow too high (possibly with interest rates above GDP as this is the current view of what it takes to go backrupt) ...
3
votes
3answers
264 views
How fast could we build a Dyson Swarm?
I'm in a rush to colonize the Solar System. Thankfully, the latest Space Race, a commercial one between SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and other less known market entrants, is set to dramatically ...
3
votes
2answers
334 views
How can I mass produce steel without coal?
So, Suppose for a moment that there is a society on the verge of an industrial revolution.
They live on a super-continent. The continent has a circumference of around 40,000 kilometers (If I recall ...
29
votes
10answers
9k views
If I build a railroad around the edge of a supercontinent, will that kill the oceangoing shipping industry?
Suppose, for a moment, that there is a human inhabited supercontinent. The planet that this supercontinent is on does not have any large landmasses which are more than 10 KM from the primary continent ...
14
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11answers
2k views
What will it take to get 1,000,000 people living in space habitats?
Sure, land is expensive here in downtown Metropolis, but lots of cheap land to build on even a few dozen miles out, never mind in the backwoods, or in flyover agricultural lands that rich, self-...
4
votes
9answers
408 views
How do I determine which areas of my empire would be richest and poorest? [closed]
In my book series, the Aurean Empire spans an entire Earth-sized world called Aurea (however, all of the landmass is on the southern hemisphere, so only that part is inhabited). Overall, the planet's ...
2
votes
1answer
131 views
How accurate was/ could minting be in the early middle ages regarding to the shape of the coin (circular)?
I am having trouble finding information on this and I lack the knowledge to know how feasible or not this would be.
I'd like to know how perfectly round coins could be made in the early middle ages. ...
29
votes
8answers
7k views
What happens if King Midas produces gold en-masse
Suppose King Midas learns to turn off his power to turn things into gold, and passes on that ability to his children.
A few centuries later, King Midas has thousands of descendants, all of whom can ...
0
votes
2answers
82 views
How would telepathy among kinsmen effect preindustrial societies? [closed]
So if people from the same family can communicate telepathically over long distances, how would that effect postindustrial societies? Ie rome, medieval times or even early modern times
The way it ...
-2
votes
3answers
342 views
A big primitive computer in orbit, very big, powerfull but old technologies from 80's, what is a potential fiat money value for its use? [closed]
This question about the economy of technological solution, there 800 of such on wb
Was looking for materials for the answer to the question
Semiconductor foundries are a thing of the past. Rebuild the ...
-1
votes
4answers
152 views
How can a for-profit prison enterprise cut costs while also maximizing growth potential?
I, Jefferson Bezonius, run the largest e-commerce business which have penetrated markets in various nations, making me one of the wealthiest men in the world. My company, Amazo, provides a platform in ...
25
votes
10answers
6k views
Time traveling Bitcoin buying
One of the most common answer tropes to the "start-your-life-over-at-x-age-with-all-your-current-memories"-question is people saying that they'd buy Bitcoin or invest in Stock XYZ that they ...
8
votes
4answers
360 views
How could medieval nobles standing improve by having someone from 2021 as an accountant?
I remember reading in another question about Time Travel here on the forum, with the subject of your being stuck in medieval time.
That if you where lucky, you could have a good life serving your ...
1
vote
2answers
198 views
How would stone age settlements interact with, and be influenced by closely neighbouring high-tech civilisation?
I've tried to find real world examples where something like Maasai Tribes, or groups of a similar life style, that live more or less alongside a high-tech civilisation, but I haven't been able to. ...
1
vote
0answers
55 views
Would it be possible to mine the metallic hydrogen from jupiter with our current technology? [duplicate]
Simply put, metallic hydrogen is obtained at absurd atmospheric pressures, becoming a stable liquid with very interesting properties. As a super conductor or simply the most efficient fuel that ...
0
votes
11answers
3k views
Despite proliferation of graphene, why is gold still so expensive in the future?
Right now I can think of 3 important factors determining the trading value of gold and why is it so expensive:
Factor 1 is longevity; this element rarely if ever reacts with anything, particularly ...
23
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21answers
4k views
What would make sailing difficult?
I'm looking to write a story where the world is a lot of islands separated by rather small water expanses (about the width of the Mediterranean or maybe that and a half) and I am struggling to find a ...
1
vote
3answers
197 views
Slave species that wants to be ruled over [closed]
Let's say aliens come to Earth, then leave us a slave species that only wants to serve other beings and would not like to be freed. They are the same shape but much stronger and have the same ...
3
votes
1answer
159 views
How much would take and cost to construct a building/tower that reaches space? (with todays technology) [duplicate]
I am aware that there is a concept called "space elevator" that would be a much cheaper and more efficient option of reaching space with a construction (even though we don't have the ...
-2
votes
2answers
100 views
What MacGuffin can convince a “bronzish” age city state with no stakes on a war to go to war [closed]
First of all, not sure if it's a worldbuilding question but I've read some of the questions here and on RPG stack exchange and my question seemed more fit for this stack exchange. Hope I'm right.
I'm ...
-1
votes
2answers
156 views
How would society that embraces only non-answer still prosper? [closed]
Set in the modern day society a bill was passed in the parliment just recently to force all its people to only use non-answer for all questions including daily conversation as part of the Personal ...
52
votes
13answers
10k views
What would an immortal-run American bank have to do to secretly maintain bank accounts for immortal customers?
A common concern with immortal fictional characters like vampires and the like is the frequency with which they'd have to change their identities and move around in order to avoid people noticing how ...
5
votes
3answers
279 views
Why is monster index still going strong?
An index is a measure of how a stock market is performing. Even the monsters know how to build up their portfolio.
When a kill is secured -- say a human being -- or a carcass is recovered, they are ...
9
votes
11answers
3k views
Given early 1800's level technology, is it feasible to extract salt and fresh water from the ocean?
Suppose the setting is a small coastal island with only three towns in it. (I imagine it's roughly the size of the Isle of Man, perhaps a little bit bigger.) Technology level is roughly around the ...
7
votes
5answers
240 views
Wargs: Where would they be economically significant if they existed on Earth?
Using the Tolkien depiction of Wargs (horse-sized and fairly intelligent large lupines that can be domesticated), where would they likely find an economic niche as livestock or work animals? I would ...
6
votes
2answers
157 views
What are various ways to gain influence over a nation primarily using economics?
This is set in a traditional Isekai world with magic, medieval technology, and a feudal system. The protagonist wants to reshape a country to match his values, basically making the nation "good&...
4
votes
1answer
127 views
How long and how much money would it take to rebuild a war torn domain/city in a late Medieval esque society (+ levitation magic)?
This is research for a book I'm writing which is set in a world with the technology level and feudal system of the late medieval period. The only exception is that there is magic and a non-human race ...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
How would a group of extra-terrestrial infiltrators go about destroying a free market economy [closed]
Let's say that a small group (around 20 or so) of well-equipped, highly intelligent ETs have secretly made their way on to Earth. They have all the knowledge they need of our various languages and ...
