Post by Kage2020 on Jul 5, 2004 1:59:20 GMT -5
One thing that is going to come up is the concept of 'trade' between the worlds of the Anargo sector... Indeed, we are currently working on the principle that worlds within subsectors primarily, and nearby subsectors, engage in trade. Trade, broadly, is defined as including both Merchant and Civil trade, both 'tithe redistribution' (i.e. shifting of significant volumes of freight along main trade routes achieved primarily by Chartist ships of the Merchant Fleet) and also 'free trade' along other routes (Civil)...
The Guide is ultimately derivative of the Traveller universe, i.e. from an old and out of print GDP publication, but which has subsequently been reprinted in various other forms by both GDP, SJGame, Imperium Games, etc. Anyway, while scanning through some new books I've come across something that, I believe, was mentioned earlier on in the project when it was on Portent. That is the use of GURPS Traveller Far Trader to model the economy/trade of the Imperium...
Reading through that book makes me jump with joy since it offers a structured approach to 'trade', allowing us to create not only 'warp routes' but also begin to talk about the flow of goods in the Anargo sector. There are, however, a number of potential problems of which the simple fact that Traveller is not 40k is the most obvious. This includes both 'conceptual' glitches in terms of ownership and the definition of the Imperium, the concept of 'Imperium currency', and so forth, that might be uncomfortable for some.
Unlike the potentially interesting PDF information from GURPS Traveller Star-Mercs, I'm not about to type out this monstronsity. Hopefully zholud - who normally gets excited about economy despite his predilection for a 'totalitarian' state! - will have a copy. He normally does... Anyway, the gist of this comment is that you're going to have to forgive any inability to properly synthesise the material. I'm still getting my head around all the rules and, more importantly, economic theory of the darned book!
Reading through the first bit of the book, the various assumptions and concepts included are as follows. Zholud, please remember that I'm an osteoarchaeologist and not an economist... Indeed, before this my knowledge of economy was limited to poor wages in archaeology in the UK () and reading about the formation of modern economy in the post-medieval period. With that caveat:
Okay, my head begins to hurt...
The various assumptions above work to produce a simple system (at least in GT:FT ) for working out trade flows, etc. This is calculated simply between pair-worlds working on the principle that subsector trade predominates (see above) and, more than likely, subsector-subsector trade predominately moves around the axis of the 'subsector capitals'.
In brief, the system works in the following manner:
40k-ifying this doesn't seem too hard. With the above assumptions, the Main routes are likely to be the primary dominion of Chartist captains, as well as significant subsector routes such as, say, between an agricultural and non-agricultural (civilised or hiveworld) world... And you've still got space for those lovely 'free traders'...
I'm going to stop once more...
The Guide is ultimately derivative of the Traveller universe, i.e. from an old and out of print GDP publication, but which has subsequently been reprinted in various other forms by both GDP, SJGame, Imperium Games, etc. Anyway, while scanning through some new books I've come across something that, I believe, was mentioned earlier on in the project when it was on Portent. That is the use of GURPS Traveller Far Trader to model the economy/trade of the Imperium...
Reading through that book makes me jump with joy since it offers a structured approach to 'trade', allowing us to create not only 'warp routes' but also begin to talk about the flow of goods in the Anargo sector. There are, however, a number of potential problems of which the simple fact that Traveller is not 40k is the most obvious. This includes both 'conceptual' glitches in terms of ownership and the definition of the Imperium, the concept of 'Imperium currency', and so forth, that might be uncomfortable for some.
Unlike the potentially interesting PDF information from GURPS Traveller Star-Mercs, I'm not about to type out this monstronsity. Hopefully zholud - who normally gets excited about economy despite his predilection for a 'totalitarian' state! - will have a copy. He normally does... Anyway, the gist of this comment is that you're going to have to forgive any inability to properly synthesise the material. I'm still getting my head around all the rules and, more importantly, economic theory of the darned book!
Reading through the first bit of the book, the various assumptions and concepts included are as follows. Zholud, please remember that I'm an osteoarchaeologist and not an economist... Indeed, before this my knowledge of economy was limited to poor wages in archaeology in the UK () and reading about the formation of modern economy in the post-medieval period. With that caveat:
- The adeptus administratum is necessarily involved in 'trade', both in terms of moderation of the assets of trade (i.e. registration of ships, registration of ship crew, etc.) but also in moderation of the financial institutions. It moderates the influence of an individual world government on 'trade', as well as serving, with other ordinatio (i.e. departmento munitorium classis) trade in restricted goods.
- Imperium economic growth is exceptionally slow. However, in the Traveller universe communications are only as fast as the ships themselves. In 40k, however, the combination of Navigated jumps and the Astropathic Network offer to allow much faster communication. Thus it would be possible for the identification of new trade potentials/customers as well as the exchange of information.
- There is no central bank, though the adeptus administratum once again determines the distribution of 'new money' to sectors predicated upon period reviews provided by the exchange of economic information through the 'world hierarchy' advocated in the ASP.
- There is an Imperium-wide currency which is nominally backed by the 'word of the Emperor' and the adeptus terra: From GT:FT, p8:
The Imperial credit is backed by neither gold, nor lanthanum, nor any other precious metal. Officially, it requires no more backing than the word of the Emperor. In practice, the credit - like all currencies - is backed by the productive assets of its economy. The credit is not directly backed by the econmies of the mperial member worls, though, since the Imperium rules not worlds but the space between them. Neither is it backed by the virtually nonexistent assets located in space directly controlled by the Imperium. In fact, what backs the credit is all the interstellar trade that must be its nature pass through the Imperium's domain: the space between worlds.
This is one potential conceptual glitch. The Emperor nominally owns all assets in the Imperium, including the worlds and their 'gross world/domestic product', but as the advocated parasitic government acts in the same way as the Traveller Imperium. - The lack of centralised banking requires the exchange of reserves between communicating financial institutions on individual worlds. This may take the form of local currency but is usually the currency of the Imperium. This removes the need for worlds to trade currencies, the requirement for a foreign exchange market based upon supply/demand, etc.
- Commerce is predicated upon three features: (1) comparative advantage, or that each world specialises in what it produces best (i.e. asteroid belt is good for producing industrial goods, but poor for the production of food resources); and (2) economies of scale, or the production of increasingly specialised goods becomes cheaper the more you produce, and that increasingly technologically specialised goods amplifies this. This does not imply a single 'Imperium economy' becuase of the "expense of transportation, the months (or years) of travel time, the natural and human hazards of star travel, and the simple differences in technical specifications and human tasts combine to make regular trade from one end of the Imeprium to the other nearly impossible..." (GT:FT 10-11). Indeed, "Most worlds do not conduct significnt amounts of trade beyond neighbouring subsectors, and even the largest worlds rarely trade beyond neighbouring sectors" (ibid, p11).
- The "Law of One Price" means that goods will tend to cost the same on neighbouring worlds (apparently something called 'arbitrage'). It should not be taken too literally (again apparently! ).
- Productivity of a world is linked to the TL, which represents an overall increase in the 'standard of living' in terms of both human capital (e.g. education) and physical capital (e.g. infrastructure). Natural capital/resources are assumed to be present on the world that is colonised, i.e. giving economic validation to that colonisation in the first place.
- Trade balances over the Imperium, if not on the scale of trade between individual worlds.
- Productivity determines the relative value of goods on a world and, as such, is once again linked to TL.
Okay, my head begins to hurt...
The various assumptions above work to produce a simple system (at least in GT:FT ) for working out trade flows, etc. This is calculated simply between pair-worlds working on the principle that subsector trade predominates (see above) and, more than likely, subsector-subsector trade predominately moves around the axis of the 'subsector capitals'.
In brief, the system works in the following manner:
- The "World Trade Number" (WTN) is a product of the local tech level and the population (i.e. see above regarding productivity), moderated by the starport class (note: one potential problem here is that only Forgeworlds are permitted the 'best' class of starport creating an inherent bias towards them; also, on a hiveworld what percentage of the population might be thought of as productive?).
- The 'Trade Classifications' are used to determine meaningful flows of trade and/or comparative advantage.
- The "Gross World Product" is then determined around base per-capita income, again a product of TL and as modified by world type (Rich, Industrial, Agricultural, etc.).
- Bilateral trade is determined between worlds as a product of the Trade Classifications (i.e. trade is more likely between an industrial and non-industrial world, or agricultural and non-agricultural world) moderated by distance. E.g. It is less likely for a world to trade with one hudreds or thousands of light years distant. The product of the World Trade Number of two worlds, the above modifier and the negative influence of distance are used to calculate the Bilateral Trade Number.
The Bilateral Trade Number is then used to calculate the 'credits/year' and 'v-displacment tons/year/week/day' that flow between worlds. This is then used to map the trade routes into 'main', 'feeder' and 'minor'.
40k-ifying this doesn't seem too hard. With the above assumptions, the Main routes are likely to be the primary dominion of Chartist captains, as well as significant subsector routes such as, say, between an agricultural and non-agricultural (civilised or hiveworld) world... And you've still got space for those lovely 'free traders'...
I'm going to stop once more...