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princeton.edu April 20, 2026 at 04:57 PM
The Theory of Interstellar Trade [pdf] (1978)
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OisinMoranApr 20
“It should be noted that, while the subject of this paper is silly, the analysis actually does make sense. This paper, then, is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics.”
Love this paper
jkmcfApr 20
It is chiefly concerned with the following question: how should interest charges on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer travelling with the goods than to a stationary observer.
stoneman24Apr 20
An interesting science fiction book is Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross. A major structural core of the book is how different colonies trade and the finance models across interstellar distances.
How does a colony finance the initial voyage and investment. It raises the concept of slow money ( 1 slow dollar is the economic output of a professional people for 40 years irc) and fast money for day to day use.
xyzsparetimexyzApr 20
This is about interest charges which is faily boring, but the book Critical Mass has some interesting comments on economics of materials in translunar space. Compared to materials on Earth, the value of materials (e.g. for construction) is entirely dependent on their position (and orbit). 100 tons of packed lunar regolith is worthless on the lunar surface, but would be highly valuable in a medium earth orbit where it could be used to construct quite a large hull via chemical vapor deposition.
shmeeedApr 20
Paul Krugman*
July 1978
*Assistant Professor, Yale University. This research was supported by a grant from the Committee to Re-Elect William Proxmire.
CarlosJeerApr 20
I wonder what Milton would say about this...
plutomeetsyouApr 20
SpaceX and Rocket Lab are among the companies that can accelerate the addition of Interstellar Trade as a subfield of economics, perhaps even within the average life span of a Gen Millennial person.
herskoApr 20
"I do not pretend to develop here a theory which is universally valid, but it may at least have some galactic relevance."
LMAO
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