It seems to be a very free society, so that would indicate that people can own property.
They do seem to believe in providing very basic care, but it isn't as if anyone can get an Intelligent Device.
Magical Girl Lyrical Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Marsyas
- Start date
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
I presume, there are both the TSAB regulations against interfering in the domestic affairs of less developed worlds and cultural stigma against imperialism. "You wanna exploit this backward world? Isn't it exactly how Belka started?"
From what we see wealth isn't stratified into the hands of mages - sure some of the wealthy are mages or from mage lineages but that isn't everyone. So we're not looking at a mageocracy.
We see people spending money as others have said so it is likely a capitalist system.
From there we need to know what's rare or hard to come by. The various characters generally have access to a degree of wealth so the homes we see that tend to be large and spacious might or might not be a sign of that wealth. That said, it doesn't look like living space or construction materials are expensive or scarce. About the only things that appear to be rare require a great deal of skill and / or power to make. Intelligent Devices take enough skill that they are expensive. Ships that can travel between worlds are expensive. And based on what we've seen in MGLT travel between worlds isn't always safe.
So my explanation would be this -
- It is generally a capitalist society with restraints against imperialism as you said. One part is the difficulty of travel - it just isn't practical to send millions of people between worlds regularly. Or even on a colonizing trip to Caro's homeland. The other is cultural - the last imperialist system made a mess of everyone's planets. These are the people from those planets whose ancestors had to fix those problems after Belka collapsed.
- The capitalism itself is managed by the government. Anti-trust laws, anti-corruption laws, and so on. Very serious penalties for breaking those laws combined with a generational effort by the government and education system to convince the public that, hey, wealthy corporations abusing their power for monetary gain is a very bad thing. As @Shaseyu pointed out above - "Isn't that how Belka started?" with the implication of "Isn't that how Belka started it's final plunge into chaos?"
- Sane patent and copy-right laws mean that there's a limit for how long any company can have a monopoly on any discovery. This leads to competition, keeps prices low, and keeps the economy from destroying smaller companies.
- Combined with the issue of safe travel that means the first the points are going to cause a diversified economy because companies cannot just ship things between worlds. Using modern examples while we can ship cars from Japan to the U.S. it is easier / more efficient / less expensive for the Japanese company to make cars in the U.S. This concept would just be applied to "planets" instead of "continents."
- The means of production would be in civilian hands - business owners - with possible exceptions for restricted technologies. TSAB wouldn't be handing out contracts to make super-weapons to the highest bidder. They'd keep that in-house. Or at least with the trusted company that invented said technology.
A side question is what do they use for energy? I assume magic because, well, magic but is there something else? And if they're using magic that potentially puts them in a post-energy-scarcity world. That's going to change how a lot of things look and act. Imagine how our world would look with infinite "free" energy. Who cares about gas mileage on your car when it is free magic? Who cares about leaving the lights on? Climate change would abruptly stop being an issue because the energy-intensive ways to remove excess carbon dioxide from the air would become instantly viable at a trivial cost of energy. A few wealthy investors (Hi, Bill Gates!) could fund solving the problem themselves - let alone what interested governments like, say, China could do.
I'd personally recommend they either use mixed forms (electricity where it makes sense, magic where it makes sense) or have there be costs to running a "mana generator" to keep energy prices involved in the economy.
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
On this part, apparently it was an aspect that would have been explored in detail if Force wasn't canceled, with some implications that there were problems behind the reliance upon Mana Reactors.
Given what happened in the backstory of the Testarossa family, a Mana Reactor isn't something that is inherently safe, but something that needs proper safety measures like any other.
That said, what we do know is that Mana Reactors are the main method of Electricity generation in Administrated Space, and electricity is the main method of powering things.
Also, the implications surrounding Mana is that it isn't infinite, but pretty much functionally unlimited due to Mana being like Hydrogen and being pretty ubiquitous.
The other thing we do know is that Mana Reactors are not seen as the best idea in Administrated Space, and Researchers are looking for next Holy Grail in Power Generation.
Oh, and on Cars: apparently, their automobiles and motorcycles use something not magic in their Engines.
What we do know for sure is that the Engines for such transport use a chemical reaction that involves Water and some chemical cocktail that results in only vapor and some other residue being spat out.
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To what end do we care about the space magic economy? Why is this discussion important?
The most important question is what makes the space magic economy run? If you want to keep it simple then pick two or three highlights of life on Mid. You can summarize Earth's economy in the production of energy, food, military and luxury goods. Everything else is pretty much derivative of those areas. Once you decide on that the economy will build itself. Is it the trade of magic, information or some exotic material good? Is it the production of food? Is it the building of space ships? If it's trade then some variety of capitalism works. If its purely luxury production based then some form of energy ration would fit. If it's post-war reconstruction, you're going to be in some form of command/ration/capitalism hybrid. If its the something else then you're probably going to end up with some form of command economy where a price for goods and services is standardized.
The most important question is what makes the space magic economy run? If you want to keep it simple then pick two or three highlights of life on Mid. You can summarize Earth's economy in the production of energy, food, military and luxury goods. Everything else is pretty much derivative of those areas. Once you decide on that the economy will build itself. Is it the trade of magic, information or some exotic material good? Is it the production of food? Is it the building of space ships? If it's trade then some variety of capitalism works. If its purely luxury production based then some form of energy ration would fit. If it's post-war reconstruction, you're going to be in some form of command/ration/capitalism hybrid. If its the something else then you're probably going to end up with some form of command economy where a price for goods and services is standardized.
But a couple teenagers can cobble together Armed Devices from what I imagine is off the shelf parts, in an unspecialized workshop.
This one isn't any more surprising if it is a capitalist or even fascist society.
It's no different from how the wealthy in most Western countries have more access to advanced technology, or just about anything else rare and expensive.
The rare magical artifacts and devices are probably expensive, so only the wealthy can afford them.
My favorite scenario here would be a primitive market economy, rather than capitalism. Corporations don't exist. Large-scale projects are mostly done by large or wealthy families. However, their small scale production is at least as labor-efficient as our megafactories (because magic) and so the self-employed can achieve a decent standard of living.
...
One thing to keep in mind about high-magic fantasy economies: commodities' relative prices might bear no resemblance to their prices on 20th century Earth. As the writer, you can declare anything to be dirt cheap (because magic). Or something could be relatively expensive because magic uses it and there are no good substitutes.
Finally, keep in mind Smith's law: a person/place's specialization is proportional to the number of people they can cheaply trade with. This is a property of trade even across economic systems.
...
One thing to keep in mind about high-magic fantasy economies: commodities' relative prices might bear no resemblance to their prices on 20th century Earth. As the writer, you can declare anything to be dirt cheap (because magic). Or something could be relatively expensive because magic uses it and there are no good substitutes.
Finally, keep in mind Smith's law: a person/place's specialization is proportional to the number of people they can cheaply trade with. This is a property of trade even across economic systems.
Either that, or only people in wealthy occupations need them.
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
Actually, Companies exist in Canon, even if they were only introduced in stuff like Vivid (in the shape of the groups that run Tournaments) and Force (Device Makers and such).
There's a difference between a company (business) and a corporation.
The companies could be partnerships or sole proprietor models that have existed for millennia.
Then again, corporations were only really created to limit liability from both losses and lawsuits so you're not risking everything you own if your business fails and can't pay its debts or somebody successfully sues you. In a place where such lawsuits don't result in a person becoming destitute because of an accident or honest mistake, corporations might not exist as people may consider it natural that you lose everything if you take risky loans.
beorn91
Ours mal léché
- Location
- France
I would complete with the fact that the model of sharing the capital of a company, with how share-holding works at the base, was created along insurance contracts to covert merchant expeditions, and started developping truly in the basis unto which capitalism would develop when merchants started using ships going in open sea. First, on seas like the Baltic seas and then across the Atlantic and further. Because a lot of money was invested in sending even a single ship and the trip was full of uncertainties.
So whether this economical model exists depends also about importance of inter-world trade, of the safety of the trade roads and the size of the compagnies doing it. Having capital shared between several owners is in fact more likely to develop with in a sector with many little or medium sized compagnies than with a few big ones. Because the owners of the big ones have simpler more reserves to absorb loss.
(Yes, ironically the model of capital favored the little owners, like how later the stock exchange originally was too allow small entrepreneurs to find money to develop their ideas and entreprises. This is sad how much the goals changed.)
I wouldn't hold my breath, some of us are still waiting for the conclusion of "Why Sailor Pluto Hates the Bet", or even "A New World In My View".
Well, this is a fantastic read.
You did a really good job blending the crossover, and taking the plot in a new direction. A lot of stories just give us a cannon retread with a new power, this is not that. We got a new story, and you did more than just merge a power in. Aspects of both series have been brought to the fore, and it looks like you're right about to get into a focus switch (which I'm looking forward to.) I wouldn't call altpower stories necessarily bad, but for people who want to read (or write) actual crossovers? This is how its done.
You did good things with the Endbringer fight. A lot of people can't pull them off well. It felt like both a fight, without feeling like it was dragging out, and still had a compelling climax.
My personal pet peeve of the idiot ball carry PRT did not show up, so I love you for that alone.
It was all very engaging. Reading only stopped for sleep. I wanted, needed to know what was coming next. Pacing was good, it felt full up without feeling rushed, and nothing dragged.
The only real complaint I can come up with is that it needs to continue!
Hopefully this inspires you to send some more Words our way.
You get the stamp!
*STAMP*
BINGED!
You did a really good job blending the crossover, and taking the plot in a new direction. A lot of stories just give us a cannon retread with a new power, this is not that. We got a new story, and you did more than just merge a power in. Aspects of both series have been brought to the fore, and it looks like you're right about to get into a focus switch (which I'm looking forward to.) I wouldn't call altpower stories necessarily bad, but for people who want to read (or write) actual crossovers? This is how its done.
You did good things with the Endbringer fight. A lot of people can't pull them off well. It felt like both a fight, without feeling like it was dragging out, and still had a compelling climax.
My personal pet peeve of the idiot ball carry PRT did not show up, so I love you for that alone.
It was all very engaging. Reading only stopped for sleep. I wanted, needed to know what was coming next. Pacing was good, it felt full up without feeling rushed, and nothing dragged.
The only real complaint I can come up with is that it needs to continue!
Hopefully this inspires you to send some more Words our way.You get the stamp!
*STAMP*
BINGED!