The Economy of Space

The economic forces in space are fundamentally different than those of traditional terrestrial economics. On Earth, resources and space were the limiting reagent. Force was as logical way of getting economic infrastructure as intelligent cooperation because labor was cheap, while even cleverly streched resources were quite limited.

Space is the reverse. Hydrogen--the fuel for fusion reactors--is unbelievably common. Resources in space are vast and practically inexaustable. The result is that available work always outstrips what labor available can actually do, so to attract workers, wages in space need to be quite high. As a result space colonies are very open places, always willing to take new hands.

Space Station Lifecycle
Because of the monetary investment involved, space colonies tend to go through several renovations throughout their usable life before they are finally stripped for parts. Colonies are closed social ecosystems of between fifteen and sixty thousand people, although there is tremendous variation. Most stations in their first stage generate local cash flow by selling a contract for a production process to a corporation. Colonists often must find minerals to feed automated production machines and maintain the machines themselves.

Later, as colonists buy the station back from the contractor, the colony goes through a renovation. Often smaller apartments which are vacant are fused together to make larger, more luxurious rooms. This brings about the second stage of a colony's life; middle management. Generally middle managers work as contract contacts, using connections they have developed from working in stations to connect stations accepting contracts with corporations which need to produce. Finally, the station goes through another renovation. Rooms are expanded yet again, this time for executives and independently wealthy investors.

Residents who move out between renovations are usually able to "beat the curve" by finding more lucrative work elsewhere, although some move because they don't care to be promoted; investing and saving from a minimum wage job and being promoted roughly equate to the same, and some people who don't develop their identities based on their jobs and finances are content, anyways.