Civcraft2Import:Economics/start

= Economics of Civcraft 2.0 =

This page contains links to various topics, articles, pages, and discussions on the economics found in Civcraft 2.0 as well as related subjects. It also features brief explanations of each concept presented and include links to appropriate wiki pages for more in-depth explanations, histories, and links.

For a list of businesses, banks, and other companies, see the List of Businesses. For organizations, see the Organisations page.

= Microeconomics =

Microeconomics is the study of individual players and small groups of players. Here, this realm has been divided into subcategories for clarification and focus on individual parts of the economics in Civcraft.

Markets
The various major cities, mostly Orion, the Commonwealth, and Fellowship, although not exclusively, are generally semi-independent markets.They have their own food suppliers, their own shop chains, and their own independent retailers, although some shops, like IXMart, operate in multiple cities. Prices are generally higher in some of the more remote/inaccessible markets, due to, among other things, the time it takes to travel to them, the cost of delivery, and the higher costs to either buy the item to sell (or sell to buy), or to grow the item. This has held steady throughout all of 2.0 so far.

Production, Cost, and Efficiency
Production follows the same periods as supply and demand (explained below). It also follows the same pattern of splitting the timeline between before the CIC's construction/expansion to non-Carson areas. That corresponds with the increase in production and efficiency, and the decrease in cost.

Supply and Demand
Supply in 2.0 is defined in 2 periods. Before rail (BR) and After rail (AR). The BR period was in the first few weeks of 2.0, when most people were getting adjusted to the map. Prices were mostly defined on old 1.0 prices, which were not as applicable, due to not only the change in map, but the inability to travel by nether.

That period is defined by the fact that, at that time, the CIC and other rail networks were not established. Due to this difficulty of travel, it allowed the major regional centres (at the time The Commonwealth, Orion and Aurora), to basically set their own prices. Very few travelled between cities, unless they absolutely had to, and little to none carried the valuable currencies of the time (d &amp; i), especially on such long and perilous journeys through the many ice mountains and cliffs that were still unmapped. A few weeks in, CIC construction started, but it was between Carson, and it's co-ops. So, instead, the cities built roads. These were massive things, stretching KM after KM long, taking hundreds of hours to build. At one point, you could go from Orion, to Kappi (now defunct), to Agora (now Aurora), all by road. It took several hours, and was terribly dangerous, due to bands of highwaymen who robbed people, and were the starts of the first griefer bands. Very few traveled, and even less traded outside of their quadrant's major city, if they even made the effort to go there.

During all of this, the CIC was expanded. The first stops were cities near Carson. Over time, as demand grew, the line was expanded into multiple lines, going to multiple cities. This proved important for supply/demand server wide. As the CIC expanded to multiple cities, people felt it was safer to travel between cities, no longer having to go on roads, or over land. Once connected to CIC, citizen's average travel distance, and thus trade radius, increased. The rails allowed any given trader, and any given trade, to travel to the major (and minor) cities on the map, and thus trade (or get traded) items that they either did not have access to, or were trading for a higher/lower price then back in their quadrant. This still took a few months to develop however. But, the rail was, and continues to be, the driving force behind supply/demand between persons and cities in multiple quadrants.

Today, with the multiplicity of multiple rail networks, canals, tunnels, and other such infrastructure developments (all of which helped as much as the rails), supply continues to go up. But, the general population of the server has stabilised, mostly due to not advertising, and it not being holidays. So, while supply has continued to increase, what with the transport options, the giant farms, and general advances in harvesting, demand is down extremely.Imagine the two ends of an absolute value equation, and that is the ratio of supply/demand currently on the server.

= Macroeconomics =

Macroeconomics, the counterpart to microeconomics, is the study of an economy as a whole. In Civcraft, this can mean large groups of players, such as a city or faction, or even the whole world.

Output and Income
Generally, output is up, but income is down. People are working harder, and longer, then usual, but are not being paid much for their labors. Mostly this is due to most people collecting their needed things on their own, and not willing to pay people to do it for them. This negatively effects the ability of cities to trade. But, it also increases a general person's output, as they're getting things for themselves.

Employment
In 2.0, employment in a general sense, is up. Many new players hold jobs like farming for materials, or joining a local company. But in terms of companies employing people across the server, such examples are far and few between, with the exception of the various delivery companies. Other companies have simply not materialized, really, yet, on such a large scale, to be able to hire multiple employees, pay them, and still be both profitable, and growable, not to mention sustainable.

Inflation and Deflation
Since 2.0, there has been a very slow, but extreme deflation in the exchange of d:i. It has gone down from the high of 18-20 i: 1d at the end of 1.0, which was the standard for the first few months of 2.0, to the current price of 16i:1d (see this survey's results for information on that). That price is up from around 12:1 from around midpoint in the history of 2.0, which was mostly used in the smaller cities. 20:1 used to be the standard in the bigger cities, even up to when this evidence was published. Beyond that, there has not been a real paper/other currency to inflate/deflate.

Currencies and Monetary Policy
There is really only 1 currency, d &amp; i. Other currencies, like the Lenning, are used in small areas, but have yet to catch on server-wide. Mostly due to the fact that many cities would prefer to use d/i to trade with other cities/persons, due to its ubiquity. Several cities have tried to make a paper currency that is popular, like Orion, only to basically crash and burn due to non-use, or bad monetary policy. Orion's crashed mostly due to the government not forcing people to use it, nor giving benefits, such as better exchange rates, or lower prices for goods, for those who used it. They are now basically worthless. Pre-war lennings are worth at least 64 d. But, there are several currencies popping up that are actually being used. Such as a certain private -+ city who has it's currency as it's only legal currency, banning d/i from being used. It seems to be the model of how to get a currency to be used, although how exactly the government of the city got it to be used as it's primary currency is still not understood widely.

List of Currencies
There are numerous currencies and medium of exchanges used in Civcraft. These include paper money, other in-game items, and out-of-game systems:


 * Diamond &lt;wrap lo&gt;(item)&lt;/wrap&gt;
 * The Lenning &lt;wrap lo&gt;(paper money, accepted in New Leningrad, and Grundswald.)&lt;/wrap&gt;
 * The Obby &lt;wrap lo&gt;(Orion's former paper money.)&lt;/wrap&gt;
 * CivCredit &lt;wrap lo&gt;(out-of-game credit system)&lt;/wrap&gt;

= Theory and Practice =

Like all other disciplines, economics can be viewed in theoretical and pratical terms.

Due to Minecraft and Civcraft's limitations and advantages compared to the real world, not all economic theories may be present or represented recognizably. For a list and analysis of differences of between Civcraft and the real world, see Mechanics.

Economic Theories
There are numerous economic theories and schools of thought present in Civcraft, some of them include:


 * Classical Economics
 * Neoclassical Economics
 * Marxist Economics
 * Keynesian Economics
 * Chicago School of Economics
 * Austrian School of Economics
 * Other Theories and Schools of Thought

Theories of Value:


 * Intrinsic Theory of Value
 * Subjective Theory of Value
 * Labor Theory of Value
 * Utility Theory of Value
 * Power Theory of Value

Practices in Civcraft
There are several practices related to economics in Civcraft. These include:

Tools and Mathematics
Due to the complex nature of economics, even in Civcraft, some tools and mathematical models have been developed. Some are listed here along with other resources:


 * FactoryMod List and Costs

Player Analysis
Many players on Civcraft have written short and extensive articles and analyses on economic topics. Some are listed here:


 * &quot;A Marxist-Tolkienian Analysis of the HCF Conflict&quot; &lt;wrap lo&gt;- Published 21 March 2013&lt;/wrap&gt;
 * &quot;Analysis of the Civcraft Marketplace&quot; &lt;wrap lo&gt;- Published 8 October 2013&lt;/wrap&gt;
 * &quot;Why Paper Money is Unsuccessful on Civcraft&quot; &lt;wrap lo&gt;- Published 7 November 2013&lt;/wrap&gt;
 * &quot;Civcraft Economic Survey Results and Analysis!&quot; &lt;wrap lo&gt;- Published 12 March 2014&lt;/wrap&gt;
 * &quot;Arran's Short-term Predictions for the Economy&quot; &lt;wrap lo&gt;- Published 27 August 2015&lt;/wrap&gt;

= History =

For the history of economic development in Civcraft, including major in-game developments, addition and removal of server-side mods, etc.