Galactic Economics

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Humanity enters the galaxy and makes First Contact, only to begin to realize that not everything is at it seems. It appears that the galactic alien community has forgotten to invent some rather important economic concepts that human civilization has taken for granted.

This is a look at a hypothetical galactic scale barter economy, how that would work, or how as one of our main characters Sarah realizes... it doesn't.

And as the galaxy falls apart at the seams, it's up to the best and brightest in humanity to put things back together.

Story contains a lot about markets, logistics, development, and the best and worst of human history. Not so much Space Marines nuking aliens.

If you enjoyed the trade negotiations and Senate politics in the Star Wars prequels, and wished that there was an entire standalone story consisting solely of those parts, this might be for you!

Galactic Economics is alsoposted on reddit here.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: rook-iv

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 773
Views: 159,759

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

Alex_146Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story isn't about space marines nor armies of xeno invaders, but a take on what the galaxy ran on the barter system, of entrepreneurs and businessbeings taking that risk to make it big or lose everything. It draws many parallels to our very own history of famine, starvation, corruption, and industrialization. Its no edgefest, but don't come expecting unicorns and rainbows.
The characters are distinct and believable, their actions have consequences much bigger than themselves. They have their own history behind them and are thinking creatures, as a result, the GC feels like something that even you, the reader, might be able to trust as a valid currency.
The author did their research, carving and intricate and very well built and dynamic world, the story arcs are well defined and has always kept the story exciting and the narrative style a perfect blend between infodumps, character backstories, online chatrooms, the main arc, and sidestories than almpst always lead to the next arc.
I'd recommend giving it a read, even if you have to suspense your disbelief a little, Its not hard since everything has at least a semi plausible justification. Its great fun and I have no problem giving it a five star story. Will read again.
CaptainYumYum12Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story introduces characters which although aren't always present still manage to stick with you. Especially the characters during the food crisis arc.
The story does progress rather quickly and although still excellent i think it would be nice to slow down and absorb the story a bit more but that's just me.
Economic theory is well presented and the Author makes interesting and thoughtful use of complex and sometimes controvercial economics
DestroyuwRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Okay so this story has probably the most unique take on how a Galactic market might work that I have ever seen period. It is genuinely fascinating to read this story. Anyway on to the four sub-scores.
Style (5/5): The author made this story catch that sweet spot between complicated and easy to read. If you have an understanding of economics you will enjoy how this story implements it. If you have basically no knowledge of economics you will ALSO enjoy it because the overall concepts used are not high-level and the author doesn't throw specific terminology at you (and when they do they explain it very well).
Story (5/5): As I said at the start it is extremely interesting and it is very fun to see how everything develops on a Galactic scale.
Grammar (5/5): Haven't seen any issues
Characters (5/5): The human characters are likeable and interesting enough for their purpose. Everyone that is named has a role and at the point I am at they haven't had to much fleshing out on them or their personal lives (but that's not really important for the story and it's early so it could change later). The aliens on the other hand are extremely interesting even though there are not that many reoccurring characters that are aliens so far. I imagine this will change when it becomes more important (ie politics gets involved etc).
Overall this is 100% a must read in my opinion.
DrundlsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I finished reading the first arc. Its enjoyable. I like the dry descriptions and economic back story, which I suppose is the point. The characters are real and I can feel for them. It reminds me of the bobbyverse books kind of, in the way things are nerdy and academic which I enjoy. Yup
KrisMastersRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like the story. It know's what it is, and it's about economics. I would not say it's character driven, rather it's about what happens if a galaxy doesn't run on currency. I would have liked some more details in some areas, but It's a solid read nonetheless. As a bonus it's not overly dramatic and downer, it has some dark moments yes, but it's not enough to make the overall ton sour.
NecessarylarkRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I was skeptical at first because it would take more then skill as a writer but some level of knowledge to make this but I was impressed by the writer. It was not to difficult to understand as a person with no previous study into economics, and entertaining story about galaxy politics.
It may follow the best case scenario of for the story. And it is hard to believe that the many other space faring civilizations lack fundamental societal economics, it was not enough to ruin the enjoyment from the novel.
OrphiexRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Some of my favorite stories are "What If" stories. This one asks an interesting question: "What would the galaxy look like if aliens managed to reach the stars... without inventing money?" It then does its best to describe it, and does so very well in every sense. Let me break it down:
Story
Lots of fun. Overall gives a well-considered and mostly realistic look at what might happen were bartering aliens to be exposed to Earth's free-wheeling economic expertise. It gets a bit dark at times, not shying away from addressing the sometimes-negative consequences of economic development, but also describes the benefits and possibilities well. It's an idea that I don't think I've seen anywhere else, and I'm looking forward to seeing where things end up.
Characters
The characters are both believeable and interesting, for the most part; on occasion they act more like vehicles for moving the story along, but the author does a pretty good job of making sure that even the bit characters have enough character to be memorable. One thing the author does really well is in describing the aliens' mental incomprehension of the idea of "money" as "not a debt-scam".
Style
The story effectively weaves together the main characters' narrative with side-character vignettes and short background infodumps to create a narrative that almost never feels boring. It does the very rare task of expressing economic concepts in ways that are not only thought-provoking, but actually interesting. One of my favorite parts of this story.
Grammar
Very good grammar, too. Nothing that interrupts reading flow; there are a few punctuation errors, and very rarely you see a typo, but that's just a matter of course and can be fixed in a later edit.
Overall, a very good story, and one that I highly endorse.
RouniRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story surrounds itself around the pretty basci concept of What if money didnt appear on the rest of the Galaxy - which serves as a perfect way to introduce economic theory, and Micro/Macroeconomics in a fantasy setting.
The storyflow is more like a diary, as we see rapid paced innovations and changes - its serves the goal of seeing the long term results of economic decisions, as it has a semi-realistic portrayal of a normal economic timeline.
There are no weird powerups or crazy romances, no harem shit. just a great mini stories about humans.
I would hesitate to call this a story with a single protagonist - instead we have several ones who come and go - it thus allows us a lot of small fast paced stories and an interesting world view of the universe.
Honestly its a really great read; it reminded me of my Macro-classes from Uni - and its obvious the writer knows what he/she is talking about - way better read than Krugmans Macro. with a touch of Sanderson's "come up with an Idea and build the world surounding it, how does it influence every aspect of life"
It could also be called Macroeconomics for dummies :)
Really, i think the author should look into this - transfer Economic books into a storyline as such - it would make uni so much more fun and interesting <3
Finally- i am guessing that it has still ways to go; after intro to Banking 101 - there is the MacDonalds case study - so i suppose there will be different aspects and case studies covnerted to stories.
A tiny bit idealistic tho, i would expect humans to be way more oportunistic and exploit the hell out of Aliens... also how come there isnt any infighting between Earth countries?
Overall loved it !
maybe its not for everyone, but if you love worldbuilding, have an interest of how capitalism works, and liek base building, this is better than any novel with a standard axe/sword-swinging idiot, who gets lucky to have a great base with lots of recourses. (let alone dungeon)
Great stuff!
TeulischRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
north-south economic problems make for interesting reading, but its uncommon to see a scifi story with earth as the economic north.
good pacing, some relatable characters, and what is clearly an in-depth knowledge of economics with some research done as well. a good read! it even has a couple bits of military action, in the form of piracy and blockades, but surprisingly no gunboat diplomacy.
TribblesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Thi story is largely a feel good HFY based around economic theory and development. The concepts are interesting and the story serves to present the concepts well. The characters are rather idealized and the writing is a feel-good style, in this case that is perfect. This should be standard reading for any intro to economics class. Seriously.