Desertborn Palace (Seeq) Economics

Desertborn Palace (Seeq) Economics

I personally prefer the name Qasbah Economics, but apparently I am the only one. Kwairif, she likes it, rockin' the Qasbah, rockin' the Qasbah.

The Desertborn (Db) grew out of the Tauist Movement which embraced ecological awareness and repudiated acquisition. The Desertborn experimented with various forms of minimalism until it fell into the practice of Palace Economics.

During the early colonization era of Araxes almost 3000 years ago, the population was too thin for market value based employment to allow a self sustaining diversified economy. The need to have all aspects of the workforce resulted in a form of Palace Economics.

The essence of Palace Economy is that a central administration plans production, assigns elements of the population to carry it out, collects the goods and services thus created, and redistributes them to the beneficiaries.

Palace Economy was first named by archaeologists studying ancient civilizations which had palaces that functioned as the collection and redistribution centers. No money is involved, the goods had no intrinsic value assigned to them. Goods are provided by the producers and distributed by the palace to those who the palace sees need for the purposes of sustenance, security and growth.

Much later, when spice was traded to offworders, it was realized that the value of the spice was so great that it risked making all other economic activity subordinate to it. Allowing private ownership or control would lead to turmoil and conflict which would weaken the Desertborn as a people and make it vulnerable to the parasitic and predatory outsiders, who covet this great resource for themselves. Thus the spice is owned collectively by the Desertborn people. All benefits of the spice shall be granted to the Desertborn people.

Because of the disproportionately high value of the spice in the free market, it would skew the workforce to all be part of spice production. Spice production would eventually (if not quickly) expand beyond sustainable levels. The skewed workforce would be dependent on imports for other goods and service which were of lesser value. The price of those goods and services would inflate tremendously. The Desertborn would then be indentured to the cash consumer economy of the offworlders and vulnerable to their parasitic and predatory ways; the very ways they came to Araxes to avoid. The practices of Palace Economics was extended to protect the Desertborn way of life.

The Palace Economy preserves the diversified production of goods and services by the Desertborn and prevents the exploitive inflation.

The benefits of the spice wealth are distributed on the basis of what is known as Palace Economy.

Quiltmakers provides quilts to the Taqis and receives whatever they need in return. Quilts are provided to those who need quilts. Spice miners provide the spice they mine and receive what equipment and supplies that they require. Everyone’s personal and material needs are provided by the Seeqs. The production is not thought of in terms of "value"; there is no value except usefulness for living. Ten quilts does not equal one computer, ten computers does not equal one quilt.

Palace Economics has other effects particular to the Desert Born. Examples:

1. Pilgrimage ends with the decision whether to go off planet or to stay on Araxes. You may leave right after Festival, or work toward gaining more knowledge or skills before going off planet. Once you leave Araxes, you will need two things to travel ... money and spice. Your Taqis will make sure that both reach you on a regular basis while you are off planet, even if that is the rest of your life. You should let the Taqis know when you no longer need the money or when you are in a new locale. You might not always need the money, but you will always need the spice.

2. There are no destitute Desertborn. All Desertborn live in seeqs due to both the environmental conditions and the ever present danger of war and conflict. There are no independent single dwelling units out in remote areas. Smaller outlier seeqs with a couple dozen families in outlying areas are supported by a parent Seeq or a collection of parent Seeqs. No needy Desertborn. If the outlier seeq needs a screwdriver, a drill press, a clean room, a medical clinic, they inform the Taqis of one of your Parent Seeq's. Just as with her own Seeq's personnel, that Taqis will head down to the basement "stores" and dig out the needed item. If the item isn't at hand, the Taqis arranges to have it made or arranges with the Council of Taqis to have the needed supplies delivered from elsewhere. She does the same if workers or assistants are needed. There are always apprentices in need of mentors.

When an item is no longer needed, it is returned to the stores to reuse to be recycled if it is worn out. Every Desertborn learns very young that if you leave something out in public areas, it ends up in the basement where someone else may take it before you get there. Seeqs' public areas are tidy. Communal space has to be tidy when you live with at least thirty other people, and none of them believe in having useless stuff laying around.

3. No single dwelling residential units out in the middle of nowhere also means no orphaned children without caretakers. Desertborn grow up with a dozen or more substitute parents, and some will instinctively move into central parenting positions. Thru the Tau, the adults know who is best suited for the child. Even if the entire outlier seeq were somehow destroyed, the parent seeq or seeqs would find the survivors and absorb them. They are not set off into the wilderness to fend for themselves to be raised by meat beetles or rescued by a kindly offworlder.

The Paradox of Plenty and Desertborn Palace (Seeq) Economics

The Resource Curse, also known as The Paradox of Plenty, refers to the paradox that countries with an abundance of valuable natural resources, tend to have less economic growth, less democracy, and worse development outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources.

Thankfully, the resource curse is not universal or inevitable, but it is a major concern for polities with overwhelming quantities of valuable natural resources. Measures need to be enacted to prevent the dangerous potential downside.

One of the most immediate issues experienced by resource heavy export countries is the excessive appreciation of their currently. Heavy export countries (typically greater than 20% of total revenues) tend to have the value of their currency rise so much that imports become underpriced, which undercuts local labour’s ability to compete in their domestic market, damaging domestic industries. Countries where a single export represents 50% of more of total revenues is referred to as an economic monoculture. Additionally an appreciating currently makes locally made goods overpriced in the interstellar market, which hurts domestic industries ability to compete in the interstellar markets for export.

Raw commodities are subject to greater price volatility than other goods. This historically causes difficulties for extraction economics because typically the profit margin of extraction is often less than the volatility of the market. Heavy export countries (typically greater than 20% of total revenues) also suffer from subsequent currency fluctuations related to the commodity price fluctuations.

Economic diversification often suffers, usually from neglect, in light of the short term and seemingly easier profits that can be made from extraction industries. Thus the economy becomes more dependent on the single extraction economy and neglects the infrastructure and educational support to develop other industries and economic activities.

Salaries in the primary industry tend to be higher than the lesser developed industries, especially if they are secondary, struggling or fledgling industries.

Human capital suffers. Commodity Extraction Economies tend to neglect education in other aspects of the economy. This is compounded that often those education in other fields tend to find better opportunities abroad, so the investment results in a brain drain of human capital reduction.

An over abundance of valuable natural resources also attracts conflict, because the natural resource is a obvious target. Either much of the economy is taken up in these conflicts, or the capital is expended in building up the defense against said conflicts. The Spice Wars is an obvious and painful example. The frequent mischief by self-styled warlords is a frequent reminder.

Having a singular source of a valuable natural resource, makes it susceptible to control by a central authority, which can then use it to be more authoritarian. The result is a command and control economy, which has a tendency towards inefficiency, corruption, and incorrect provisioning.

Increases of Central Authority control over the economy often results in an increase in crime in response. Additionally, a small number of people controlling a disproportionately large portion of the economy and governance, also attracts a lot of infighting conflicts.

Araxes, due to The Spice, would be susceptible to all of these ills, and were acutely aware of the risks from the outset since the early colonization era. The dangers and ills of consumption economies was one of the major motivations.

There are three proven solutions to the of extraction resource price volatility. One is to form a consortium, that manages the sale of the resource so that it is not stuck having to sell much product during price dips, delivering an overall better price to the extractors. The second is to not use the extraction profits as consumed income, but as capital to develop the domestic economy. The third is to get involved in the processing and distribution of the primary resource. The profit margins of processing and distribution tends to be larger than the volatility of the price of a raw commodity.

Historically, the Honourable Combine for Mercantile Advancement played the role of the price stability consortium, buying up inventory on price dips and selling off stocks during price spikes to keep volatility to a minimum. More recently, the Desertborn have taken over the role of refining The Spice planetside and act collectively as their own consortium. Refining The Spice also counts as participating in the processing and distribution of the raw commodity, but we have also expanded into production and distribution of popular spice based products such as spiced coffee, tequila, mesqal and beer.

The first responsibility of Seeq Economics is providing thru the various Seeqs/Wati’s housings, clothing, food, medical, and utilities. With those basics covered, individuals, groups, and wati’s can take greater risks to develop domestic industries and other projects. The secondary, but still vital responsibility of Seeq Economics is to provide resources to invest in education, infrastructure, and development of domestic industries. Tertiary responsibility is the development of defence and science that affects all of the Desertborn and Araxes, protecting the present and paving the wave forward.

Because the Seeq form of Palace Economics takes place on the wati level, the people making decisions are provisioning are attuned to the wati population due to the empathy of The Tau, keeping corruption and incorrect provisioning to a minimum. This makes for more input on the internal distribution needs and decentralizes the overall distribution which is the major risk regarding a resource monoculture.

Among the Db, the base unit above the individual is the Wati (plural Watin). Many, but usually not all except in the smallest wati, are blood or bond related but all are connected by their Tau. The wati shares meals and provides all else for their own from their own stores. Should a visitor need clothing, food, shelter, it will be given. But, should a wati need extra computers or tutors, for example, it will make its need known to the regional council of Taqis and Yiaziis, or thru contact with the Taqis of an individual Wati. If the regional council is running short, it will make the planetary council aware and the distribution will be made to the original wati from halfway around the planet if need be.

Watin tend to specialize. It is naturally easier to train others in what one knows. Thus, each wati will overproduce in some area of manufacture or skills and these will be redistributed where needed. Some skilled personnel will move to a wati and stay, teaching his/her skill to the new generations. Other skilled personnel will be needed in a series of watin and live in each only a few months or a year. In this way, knowledge and genetic material is constantly flowing through all the watin.

The Desertborn toddler begins to absorb the idea that status is linked to range of knowledge and range of action. The young child learns that dusting and washing dishes gives him/her status higher than those who do no dusting, washing dishes or other chores. Status does provide extra benefits (bribes such as dessert or that book the older children are raving about), and later when they pass the Pilgrimage, it earns extra respect and the responsibility of work requiring specialized knowledge.

Work just to pass the time is discouraged. Useless business doesn't contribute to the welfare of the community and reduced one's sense of self. The Desertborn recognize that the individual must be healthy in mind and body for the community to stay healthy.