Trekonomics

or Did you say "Live Long and Prosper", Comrade?

Let's face it, socio-economics are not Star Trek's strong suit. In the original series, we see a very definite free market but by the time we get to "The Next Generation", things get a little confused. On the one hand we have private concerns like the Remmler Array or Quark's Bar on DS9, on the other we are told Star Fleet officers are not paid but we see them gambling away credits in the officer's mess. What happened in real life is Gene Roddenberry went from being a pantheist liberal to being an atheist communist in his personal life and tried to force Star Trek to follow suit, with muddled results.

Among those of us in the nerd community, there is a considerable amount of ink spilled over the question of whether or not the United Federation of Planets is a free market or a socialist command economy.

Those arguing that the UFP is a socialist society point to the negative image of capitalism presented by the Ferengi, the often repeated statement that there is no money in the 23^rd-24^th centuries and that people are no longer motivated by material wealth. Additional support for this viewpoint is gathered from the fact that Gene Roddenberry was, at least by the end of his life, a socialist and an atheist.

Personally, I see the Trek universe, particularly the Federation, as having an economy that is a little different than what we are familiar with today. Star Trek posits a remarkable device called the ‘replicator’ which can reorganize matter on the atomic level – meaning you can put toxic waste in and get out anything from diamonds to peanut butter. The plausibility of such a technology is debatable but what isn’t in dispute is that the existence of such a technology would drastically change the operation of markets.

Currently, all markets are constrained by scarcity regardless of whether they are free or command markets. There are only so many tons of steel produced in a given year, only so much oil on the world market, only so much production capacity… the market determines the distribution of these resources through the mechanism of price. Scarcer products fetch higher prices (assuming demand is a constant). To obtain premium goods one must have more money, thus the acquisition of capital becomes the engine that drives the economy.

But wait; now we have removed scarcity of goods as a factor. Anyone can have silk pajamas and a fancy car since the replicator can literally make them ad infinitum out of yesterday’s trash. Indeed, the only commodities that will remain subject to scarcity are time, space and talent.

Time remains scarce since there is only 24 hours in a day and even if we assume the human lifespan increases to 120 years, as Star Trek lore tells us it will, it is still a finite quantity of time. Space remains scarce since the Earth won’t be getting any larger – indeed, the need for space seems to be the driving policy objective of the major powers in the Star Trek universe. The Federation, Klingons and Romulans all seem to be bent on securing control of every exploitable world within their reach. Talent remains scarce since it takes 18-25 years to train a new skilled worker and there are only so many people in any given population.

The Federation clearly has some sort of competitive economy; the glimpses we have seen of the civilian life in the Federation suggest a relatively high level of wealth and easy access to high technology goods. This is only possible under free markets, so clearly the Federation is not burdened with a communist or socialist economy. Moreover we do know that the Federation boasts a unit of fungible exchange called the ‘credit’. The Federation credit is also clearly a hard currency since it is accepted inside and outside of the Federation. Cyrano Jones was quite willing, even eager, to accept credits in exchange for his wares. Other hard currencies exist as well. The Ferengi Gold Pressed Latinum Strip is also widely accepted as is, one would assume, the Orion and Klingon currencies.

It would seem that replicators would be communally owned assets with every member of the community guaranteed access to the replicator and thus a minimum standard of living. However, a community requires living space and communal spaces. Since space remains scarce, people will have to trade for it. Perhaps certain goods cannot be accurately replicated (or the natural versions are in high demand – thus commanding ‘credits’ from other communities). Talent being another scarce item would also be worth ‘credits’ since it cannot be replicated and even replicators will require skilled technicians to maintain them, their supporting computer and power systems and assorted subsystems. Services will also be worth ‘credits’ since time cannot be replicated. If I am willing to spend my time cleaning your living space so you can pursue other interests, my time is worth ‘credits’ to you.

Credits can be used to purchase services (hence, Starfleet personnel are paid in credits – for their service), non-replicated goods such as fine wines, real fabrics, real foods, etc, and space – real estate will always have value simply by virtue of the fact that no more can be created.

This raises some interesting situations. A young man or woman desires to be educated in a technical field. Assuming their parents cannot or will not teach them, they will need to purchase the services of a teacher – in other words, they will need to get their hands on some credits. Now, if the skill is valuable to the community, the public fisk will provide the credits on the condition that the beneficiary provide the community with technical services for a set period of time. Service beyond that time will result in additional credits being given to that person in exchange for their service.

One could see a community offering incentives to those with needed skills to join, credits being only one possible incentive. Perhaps one wishes to marry a certain person, the community could exchange its assent for a period of service or perhaps for credits to be used to purchase additional space or support personnel to accommodate the new family (would the concept of the dowry make a comeback in the 23^rd century? It might, which would explain why so few Starfleet types are married – they can’t make the concurrent commitments to a community and why young people seem so willing to be colonists, they have access to space and a replicator without the strings that a more mature society might require).

One could see communities forming on the basis of shared values and interests rather than artificial notions of ‘citizenship’ based on arbitrary geographical distinctions. In a polyglot society like the United States one would expect to see very distinct communal structures whose membership is based on religious, philosophical, ethnic or even distinctions such as a common hobby (artist’s colonies, anyone?). Even in relatively homogenous societies like Japan, one could see the resurrection of the concept of clans or tribes as the basis of a community.

Space would be one of the few commodities that can actually be taxed. Society will need funding and that funding burden will have to be shared equitably. Income or excise taxes will not yield much, thanks to the replicator providing most of what we rely on income to provide today. By taxing space, a society will be able to get the funds it needs to maintain a social infrastructure. The entire governmental infrastructure, including defense, would be supported by ‘real estate’ taxes. Since each member of society is allotted space based on factors such as need and relative contribution, property taxes would be relatively evenly distributed and could be assessed against individuals or communities as a whole. Taxes would be payable in ‘credits’ which would then be used by the government to purchase needed services, space and time from private contractors.

23^rd century society seems paradoxical, there are large super-states like the United Earth Republic and the United Federation of Planets but those governments don’t seem to have anything near the level of control over people’s daily lives as even the U.S. federal government does over the daily lives of Americans. It seems that individuals maintain great autonomy, again thanks to the replicator. A community possessed of a replicator is more or less independent of the surrounding communities and as standards of living would be universally high there is little incentive to violently compete with those outside communities. The higher levels of government would be largely concerned with the pacific settlement of inter-community disputes, trans-communal infrastructures (the transport, power and communications grid), maintaining a stable ‘credit’ exchange rate and handling defense and foreign policy issues.

Philosophically, the Federation doesn’t possess a socialist feel. Karl Marx wrote that the family was the quintessential capitalist unit (and many capitalists agree) and therefore was to be targeted for destruction. Marx held that ‘free love’ should replace marriage commitments and children should be raised in communal crèches by the state. This is far from true in the Federation. While the Federation is not exactly Victorian in its attitude towards sex and marriage, traditional families seem to remain the norm. In every Trek series we have seem weddings, married couples and children raised by their parents with extended family (not the state) providing additional support.

Interestingly enough, despite the rather leftist attitudes expressed by the creators of Star Trek towards such issues as marriage, homosexuality, abortion and capitalism – the final product shows little deviation from morals that would sit comfortably in the middle of the Bible Belt. For example, in Star Trek II, we learn that Captain Kirk has a son with Dr. Carol Marcus. While Kirk and Marcus are not married, Dr. Marcus seems to have not even considered the possibility of an abortion. Indeed, if a female character gets pregnant in any of the series, the assumption across the board is that the child will be carried to term. We have never seen a homosexual character on any of Trek’s on screen incarnations (lurid fan fiction to the contrary not withstanding). The only possible exception is the DS9 story arc where the ‘alternate universe’ Kira Nerys falls in love (or at least lust) with ‘our’ Kira Nerys, however that had more to do with narcissism than lesbianism - particularly since 'our' Kira doesn't return the affection. Dr. Crusher broke off an affair with a Trill character that had previously been in a male host (Trills are wormlike lifeforms that enter into a symbiotic relationship with another, humanoid, species) when that Trill was joined to a female host. Understandable, if not politically correct, and certainly not the outcome we’d have expected from a socialist utopian society hostile to traditional morality. And lastly, as has been pointed out, despite Trek’s moralizing over Ferengi capitalism, the Federation boasts a vigorous free market economy of its own.

It has been alleged that Star Trek must be socialist since we have never seen any advertising on the U.S.S. Enterprise. This is, of course, a non-argument. The Enterprise is a naval vessel, not a private cruise ship. She is a warship in government service. Would you expect to see a McDonald’s franchise on the U.S.S. Ruben James in the modern United States Navy? However, on Deep Space 9 which is a joint military and civilian installation we do, in fact, see private businesses. Quark’s Bar being the most colorful but far from only example. What we do not see is a customs office or a tax service. Apparently rents for space and/or some form of ‘real estate’ tax provide the government revenue.

The lack of private starships is also cited as ‘proof’ of the socialist nature of the Star Trek universe. However, both Cyrano Jones and Harry Mudd had private ‘free traders’, and then again how many privately owned ocean going vessels are there in the modern USA? Not many and those which are out there are owned by very large corporations. Your typical American does not own a ship capable of a trans-Atlantic crossing nor a Lear Jet. Of course such things DO exist (albeit they are rare) and the situation seems little different in the Federation.

It has been alleged that communications are a government monopoly. However, this may have more to do with the fact that 99% of the Star Trek filmed action takes place within the context of the interstellar navy. Anyone who has served can tell you that in the military, EVERYTHING is government controlled and privacy doesn’t really exist even for military families (we are here to defend democracy, maggot, not practice it!).

We are also limited by the fact that we have seen little of the civilian world of Star Trek. We know more about the daily routines on Vulcan, Bajor and Qonos than we do of civilian life on Earth. The only glimpses we get of the Terran civilian’s life are the brief snippets of life on Maurice Picard’s vineyard in France. However, what we do see is interesting. Maurice Picard inherited his private business from his father. The vineyard takes up a great deal of privately owned real estate. This means a few things still exist in the 24^th century; 

a)      Private ownership of land exists

b)      Property, including real property, can be inherited

c)      Private enterprise exists

d)      Traditional families and family ties exist

This is hardly the stuff of a socialist utopia. Indeed, it seems that Maurice inherited the property with little state interference (settling Jean Luc Picard’s share of the estate seems to have been the major issue of probate, not estate taxes). Moreover, the Picard estate in France seems more than a little wealthy, meaning that the Picard family had not only obtained but retained considerable wealth. There is no evidence that Maurice Picard was a ‘high party official’ or any sort of political figure, therefore his wealth was due to private, not state, action.

In the classic Trek we see Captain Pike wanting to buy a home near the Mojave Preserves, buy some horses and settle down. These are decidedly capitalist (and American) ambitions. A socialist would want to obtain party rank and have access to a small dacha in the country. Pike also considered becoming a free trader, setting up shop in the Orion Colonies, a decidedly entrepreneurial and capitalist ambition.  In 'Mudd's Women', we see Captain Kirk having to negotiate the purchase of the miner's dilithium. If a socialist economy was in place, he would have simply demanded them as a representative of the State - or if a communist idealistic economy existed, the miners would have simply offered them up in the name of 'to each according to his needs and from each according to his abilities'. Instead, Mr. Childress (a civilian) was rather adamant that he wanted to be paid in cash for his dilithium. He didn't seem to fear Kirk's military authority nor did he take Kirk's threats of being cut off from Federation support too seriously since he knew the demand for his non-replicatable dilithium would force the Federation's markets to not ignore a proven reserve such as Mr. Childress and his colleagues controlled. That is a capitalist reality, not a socialist fantasy.

The lack of a centralized securities market is also pointed out as evidence of the ‘communist’ nature of the Federation. Leaving aside the logistical problems of running an interstellar exchange, the existence of the replicator would obviate the role of most modern securities. The purpose of selling shares or issuing bonds is to raise capital to buy scarce goods (such as raw materials) but with few exceptions those materials are no longer scarce so why do you need capital to acquire them? Instead, a company would be a community (Japanese zaibatsu anyone?) – Probably with all the paternalism that Mitsubishi and the early 20^th century Ford Motor Corporation were (in)famous for. Investment in dilithium mining operations (Like the Vega Mining Corporation or the Rigel Ore Company) or concerns producing non-replicatable goods (like fine French wine) would be done in a manner more reminiscent of the 17^th and 18^th centuries where an individual or perhaps even a government entity would advance the capital in return of a partial ownership or for a share of the profits. In other words, the way capitalism worked in the age of sail. Massive portfolios of stock issued to raise capital to acquire scarce raw materials simply would not exist. Most investment would be in the form of one community (and/or leading individuals of a community) investing the startup of a niche business or of another community in return for future credits to be used in ‘foreign trade’. If anything, it seems that some sort of anarcho-capitalist neo-tribalism would be the paradigm that replaces the modern monolithic neo-socialist nation-state.

Of course, internal consistency is not Trek’s strong suit. This is due to many factors, including lack of a well-organized ‘writer’s bible’ until well into the existence of the franchise, Paramount’s deliberate policy of contradicting licensed products, and Gene Roddenberry’s discomfort with his own creation. Roddenberry’s descent into socialism, atheism and pacifism made him very uncomfortable with the Classic Trek. He often complained of Starfleet’s military nature – what did he expect? He created an institution that fielded things called ‘Heavy Cruisers’ and had captains, commanders,  lieutenants and even courts martial… I hate to break it to you, Gene, but Starfleet is the interstellar navy. Kirk identified himself as 'a soldier not a diplomat' and McCoy once even yelled at Kirk and Spock for not thinking and acting like military men (implying that they were, in fact, military men and should conduct themselves as such).

If anything the dominant political paradigm in the Federation is not socialism but Libertarianism (also known as Anarcho-Capitalism). The ideal is that free people can run their own affairs without resorting to higher authority in most cases.

Perhaps the Federation bemusement with the Ferengi stems more from the fact that while the Feds can appreciate the Ferengi love of free trade, the corporate franchise model of Ferengi capitalism seems a little dated and inefficient to ‘modern’ sensibilities and political attitudes than any hostility to capitalism or private enterprise. You see, a Ferengi DaiMon is not an independent operator; he must obtain his franchise from the Grand Nagus who acts much as a medieval royal monopolist with regard to the Ferengi economy. No Ferengi business venture is legal unless franchised by and remitting franchise fees to the Grand Nagus. Such a set up resembles an organized crime ‘protection racket’ more than a normative capitalist free market. While the Ferengi seem to understand the corporate and franchise business model fairly well, they seem to be a little uncomfortable with the small entrepreneur business model. Such uniformly collectivist attitudes towards the economy would be quite unfamiliar to Harry Mudd, Cyrano Jones, Maurice Picard or even Christopher Pike.

Star Trek is clearly a utopian vision of the future to one degree or another, but, even despite the desires of its creators, it ultimately owes more to the political and economic theories of Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises and Harry Browne than those of Karl Marx, George Engels, and Vladimir Lenin. And, that’s not such a bad future after all.