Richard,

I've always seen that sort of economic geography as one of the roles of Internal Mapping Branch of the IISS.

Note that there's presumably been tension between the IISS doing this, and various corporate/noble interests, and local governments.

Who owns minerals under the ground is always one of those issues where 'possession in nine tenths of the law' applies so well - the Katanga revolt is an example, and PNG and Bouganville (basically, locals didnt want copper mine to happen. Local army is crap. Mercs hired. Local army threatens to knock over local government unless mercs withdrawn. Mercs withdrawn. Still no copper mine).


On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 10:29 AM, Richard Aiken <raikenclw@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 2:51 AM, Ian Whitchurch <ian.whitchurch@gmail.com> wrote:
Richard,

If your Imperium is extracting 3% of GWP as taxes, then it'll want a lot of interstellar trade to happen. Why ?

Because the Imperium probably doesnt want 3% of everything they make in kind, they want stuff thats useful for the Fleet and the Imperial nobility/bureaucracy.

Gold is useful. So is platinum and rare earths. The Imperium needs only to point out where these are located (using appropriate high-tech sensors), then let the locals mine them. Or contract out said mining to whichever megacorp paid the relevant Imperial noble the best bribe . . .

And - before someone brings this up - my Imperium does not have refining technology advanced enough that commodities such as these have become economically worthless.

Alternatively, a low-pop/low-tech world might have some unique product that the Imperium can resell at a profit off-world, such as the ever-popular biological feedstocks for anagathic drugs.

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein
"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby
"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester
-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml