Dethklok
First Post
Not all economic systems are direct reflections of the technological progress of the era. One society may be capitalist and the other Marxist for purely historical or cultural reasons.
Even beyond the slippery issue of culture, I will comment that the more cooperation is necessary, the better established the society's institutions are, and the more public (shared) goods are at risk from exploitation, the more socialistic individual economies will be. Conversely, the more an individual is able to succeed independently of others, the younger the society is, and the less of an issue shared goods are, the more libertarian the economy will be. Case in point, Rome had bread and circuses; the Wild West had men with guns.
Putting this in terms that may be more relevant to you, consider the effect pollution will have, the level of structure that exists, orthe necessity for official training in your universe. If scarce skills can be learned independently, pollution isn't an issue, and the vastness of space makes it easy to avoid the law, I'm saying that your economy will be unregulated; people will use a combination of barter, reputation, and exchange of favors in their transactions. I would guess that this kind of economy would prevail in fringe space. Closer to the core of the civilization I imagine you would see monetization, red tape, much time and money spent acquiring passes, credentials, and certifications, many interactions between anonymous strangers, and lots of people living off of the public coffers.
Even beyond the slippery issue of culture, I will comment that the more cooperation is necessary, the better established the society's institutions are, and the more public (shared) goods are at risk from exploitation, the more socialistic individual economies will be. Conversely, the more an individual is able to succeed independently of others, the younger the society is, and the less of an issue shared goods are, the more libertarian the economy will be. Case in point, Rome had bread and circuses; the Wild West had men with guns.
Putting this in terms that may be more relevant to you, consider the effect pollution will have, the level of structure that exists, orthe necessity for official training in your universe. If scarce skills can be learned independently, pollution isn't an issue, and the vastness of space makes it easy to avoid the law, I'm saying that your economy will be unregulated; people will use a combination of barter, reputation, and exchange of favors in their transactions. I would guess that this kind of economy would prevail in fringe space. Closer to the core of the civilization I imagine you would see monetization, red tape, much time and money spent acquiring passes, credentials, and certifications, many interactions between anonymous strangers, and lots of people living off of the public coffers.
