Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes - io9 Comments

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

Sihanouk-s-Poodle — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:20:31 PDT

Futures trading is still a big deal. Contracts for oil, grain and other commodities that I'm aware of go a year or so into the future.

Sihanouk-s-Poodle

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

Moff — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:03:41 PDT

@pink_clerical_collar: Good point. But back then people weren't conditioned to expect products to be delivered from the other side of the world in a matter of days, and now we are. I could see Earth's economy adjusting to where it would be commonplace for raw materials, like metals and rare elements, to get shipped in over the course of five-year trips; once you got enough ships making the run, you wouldn't even notice.

But it'd have to make sense from a economic standpoint. And unless, again, there was something pretty fuckin' awesome out there, I can't really imagine interstellar shipment of consumer goods.

Moff

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

pink_clerical_collar — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:23:52 PDT

Whoa. Back in the olden days (like the dawn of ocean-going trade) buyers and sellers had to wait years, if not generations, for transactions to be completed and investors paid off. Just plain things like silks, spices, materials -- Stuff -- were worth waiting for, and an entire world industry developed, because of it.

Hell, I betcha Lloyd's has a few boilerplate space cargo, hull and P&I policies all drafted and ready, just in case the Space Race stayed hot enough to develop interplanetary commerce before the end of the 20th century....

pink_clerical_collar

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

Gann — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:12:19 PDT

@Gann: Correction- Information, People, Energy. Spice? I know this is a science fiction site, but come on....

Gann

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

Moff — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:54:16 PDT

@Gann: Yeah, it would have to be pretty fuckin' awesome to warrant waiting five years or more for. Perhaps by the time we're capable of interstellar travel, humanity will be on top of its shit enough to know that "You'd better send those medical supplies now, Alpha Centauri Colony, because we're gonna need 'em" -- but I kinda doubt it.

Moff

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

RRich — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:44:12 PDT

Ever see the Bristish cover of his previous book, "The Great Unraveling"?

Wicked!

[wordsonwords.com]

RRich

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

Jeff-Minor — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:38:32 PDT

Spice indeed. The thing with spice is, it can be shipped instantaniously via fold space. The price can't change much in an instant. Besides, the Guild would demand payment for the spice before it's delivered.

Jeff-Minor

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

nygenxer — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:33:13 PDT

Krugman rules!

nygenxer

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

desiredusername — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:31:07 PDT

This isn't intergalactic trade--that would be crazy!

This is plain old interstellar trade. So you could ship regular ore. Or biologics.

desiredusername

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

IntoAshes — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:12:17 PDT

@Gann: Spice... precious, precious spice...

IntoAshes

Paul Krugman, Master Of The Space Lanes

Gann — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:07:35 PDT

It's hard to imagine anything really worth transporting across galaxies other than information or people.

Gann