economics

Go Farther: Economy And Fiction

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Know what I want to see more in science fiction, fantasy, and heck, a lot of geektastic stuff?  I want to see more about the economy.

Now don't assume this is my bizarre love of statistics and economics.  I just think it's something ignored way too much in genre fiction, which means it's an opportunity for smart authors to explore some territory.

When I see most fiction focusing on economic issues, it's often boring, preachy, and based on justifying the author's given economic theories.  Usually this is science fiction, which makes the grating forcing of economic theories into the stories even more obvious.

I think it's time to get beyond the preaching and focus on the fact that economic issues, properly portrayed and understood, are pretty fascinating.  Economics is about the flow of wealth, about the relations between people.  Economics has started – and ended wars.  Economics is about movement.  Economics is a big part of worldbuilding.

Consider the ways economics come into classic genres:

  • In science fiction what is the economic flow of your setting – independent worlds that have to have their own economies, a far-flung empire where cheap galactic transport allows for the flow of goods and riches, or something else?  Good science fiction explores the impact of technology on our lives – and how we eat and make a living is a big part of lives.
  • In fantasy what do magic, present gods, and fantastic creatures do to economics?  Can that drought that's destroying trade be repaired with divine intervention?  What is the economy of people who supply strange reagents for wizards (how much is Dragon dung worth on the free market?).  How do you earn a living when wars with orcs are normal and wizards are tossing fireballs around?
  • In superhero stories what are taxes like to repair buildings damaged in the inevitable battles?  What are insurance rates like?  How do superheroes pay for their costumes?

Looking to write?  Consider the economic elements of your world and stories as well.  You might find a lot of fascinating opportunities and interesting ideas to explore.

(And economics may seem less dull!).

– Steven Savage

Frustration Friday: No, They Can’t Fix It

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Those that make errors can often be the right person to fix them, as long as their errors are not due to a flaw in character – because they have the skills to correct their mistakes.  A military leader can turn a loss into a win with tactics.  A doctor can notice a misdiagnosis and prescribe a proper solution.  A programmer can find bugs in her code and fix them.  Sometimes the best person to correct a mistake is the one that made it.

In the case of the global economic meltdown, this is most distinctly not the case.

Let's look at the people who created our lovely globalized financial mess:

  • Sell-out politicians who figured donations trumped the future.
  • Bankers and brokers and their ilk whose focus has been on how to play the system as it was to make a lot of money.
  • Assorted people in the loan industry, financial "gurus" and others who were ready to take wads of cash for spreading B.S.

What do all of these people have in common, beyond obvious ethical issues so bad the Dali Lama might be tempted to slap them?*  If you said "they don't have the ability to fix the problems they made" you're right.

The walking ethical black holes that helped create the Great Recession simply do not have the ability to repair the system they messed, even if they suddenly repented and saw the error of their ways.  The people who created our problems are good at gaming the system and using it to make money.  They are not necessarily good at things like developing sustainable economies, addressing unemployment issues, and so on.

No matter what they want to do, they're not equipped to do it, so we can't look to them for solutions.

Sure we might look to them for repentance and contrition.  We may hope they admit the errors of their ways.  They could use their public positions to admit what a group of utter moral dullards they are and try to rally people to change things.  But they're not going to be able to fix things in the roll-up-your-sleeves sense.

So next time you hear about who needs a bailout and how certain people are just so darned indispensable to the economy, ask if those getting bailed out and praised are the people that made this mess.  Then ask if you think they really can – and will – help solve the results of the economic meltdown.

– Steven Savage

* I don't think the current Dali Lama would slap any of these people.  But he might understand the urge to.

Frustration Friday: EconoPolitics and Frustration

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Ever want to talk about economic issues like jobs or banks or regulation and not get into politics?  You can't.

Economic issues are political issues because they deal with law and taxes and spending and everything else.  Political policy is economic policy and nothing you can say can change that because society really is an integrated whole, and people get pretty damn political about money.  You cannot separate economics and politics.

Now, if you think of that for a moment, are you surprised that we have tons of unemployed people, ruined economies, and general financial stupidity?

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