Living stuffs
Some Economic notes about some of my stuff before I finally write the whole thing down in a proper wiki format
To preface I guess, I have a sort of 'alt earth', it's still earth in the chemical and evolutionary sense, but not in the historical sense. The continent arrangement, the history, is all completely different from what we associate with our own earth, and that's where my Pretorians story takes place and it's also the foundation and history all other humans in my far future settings come from. One of the main countries I focus on is Istres, which is the more specific setting on this alt Earth the Pretorians come from. It's a large country and accounts for most of the continent and it's own place in global economics does have influence on the others around it.
The country of Istres works on a basic universal income system and citizens are also provided basic medical care. This is country-wide and doesn't change regardless of province. However, there is a caveat, certain advanced procedures can put people on wait-lists or restrict them to older solutions for certain problems. It's possible to get expedited care and even access to new and advanced treatment in exchange for a certain amount of years of military and/or government service, and the options are particularly vast. Central government conducts law enforcement, peace keeping and emergency services for all provinces, so the options available for this are pretty vast and even includes things such as clerical work. (does this mean that there are complications for people that either can't do the work or push themselves into work for the expedited care, yooouuu betcha. Yes there are disability services but that doesn't erase the other problems.)
Some of the foundations of it's economy is also structurally different. There are rules and restrictions regarding advertisement, things we commonly see in our own economic landscape are completely absent from Istres economy. Their overall mindset is that in order for any one service or product to achieve anything, it's value shouldn't be swayed by brand recognition or advertisement. Even imported products need to follow the same packaging and advert restrictions. Packaging is extremely basic and minimal, common trends are to show as much of the contents as possible, to prove you're selling the product itself, not the brand. There's no mascots, no banners, no billboards, no commercials in the typical sense. There are a specific list of fonts that can be used, and color categories for products. Advertisement is restricted to forms of reviews and as such there's a huge amount of value placed on customer reviews and feedback. (also think things like Shopping Network channels and segments on broadcast services)
The mindset is that if there's restrictions on forms of social manipulation or subliminal messages, the best of the best will get the most sales, allowing products and services more room to flourish, as they won't need deep pockets to compete in the forms of advertising against giant companies as what was common in the past. The phenomenon of 'Brand Loyalty' still exists, it just manifests in a different way, less prominent, more subtle. That and there's still of course money in review manipulation so it's not like it's a perfect solution, but it does lend to a completely different economic landscape. It also means day to day lifestyle isn't swamped in advertisement for every service imaginable. There's also more in the way of specific focused shops and less megamarts a-la Walmart or Target.
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In most Ertakar establishments, there isn't a price on land. There's territory and borders sure, but in many cases putting a price on the land has lead to detrimental problems. Since dietary needs lend to require careful control of land in order to ensure the prey population remains stable, it's seen as a benefit to work as a group to ensure it thrives. Because of that, permitting ownership to land as an individual solely based on monetary accomplishment is seen as universally detrimental. It's not like it's been smooth sailing the whole way, there have been complications, and how living space is distributed varies, but ultimately property is seen as owned by the collective.
On the whole, if there's a place to live, you can live there. Large cities have a whole process involved with taking a constant census on the people, in order to ensure there's enough residential living space for both their own population and potential transferred population. Though due to the sheer size there can be waiting lists for any new transfers. Also they have specific designated living spaces for the elderly and those with special accommodations. (such as reserving the ground floors for flight-less Ertakar)
There's still aspects to their economic structure I'm figuring out, aside from the food stuff I mentioned the last time. I still have to consider how they handle education and sciences. All I knew is that there wasn't much in the way of property/land ownership and things like utilities are are considered essential to upkeep for all.
To preface I guess, I have a sort of 'alt earth', it's still earth in the chemical and evolutionary sense, but not in the historical sense. The continent arrangement, the history, is all completely different from what we associate with our own earth, and that's where my Pretorians story takes place and it's also the foundation and history all other humans in my far future settings come from. One of the main countries I focus on is Istres, which is the more specific setting on this alt Earth the Pretorians come from. It's a large country and accounts for most of the continent and it's own place in global economics does have influence on the others around it.
The country of Istres works on a basic universal income system and citizens are also provided basic medical care. This is country-wide and doesn't change regardless of province. However, there is a caveat, certain advanced procedures can put people on wait-lists or restrict them to older solutions for certain problems. It's possible to get expedited care and even access to new and advanced treatment in exchange for a certain amount of years of military and/or government service, and the options are particularly vast. Central government conducts law enforcement, peace keeping and emergency services for all provinces, so the options available for this are pretty vast and even includes things such as clerical work. (does this mean that there are complications for people that either can't do the work or push themselves into work for the expedited care, yooouuu betcha. Yes there are disability services but that doesn't erase the other problems.)
Some of the foundations of it's economy is also structurally different. There are rules and restrictions regarding advertisement, things we commonly see in our own economic landscape are completely absent from Istres economy. Their overall mindset is that in order for any one service or product to achieve anything, it's value shouldn't be swayed by brand recognition or advertisement. Even imported products need to follow the same packaging and advert restrictions. Packaging is extremely basic and minimal, common trends are to show as much of the contents as possible, to prove you're selling the product itself, not the brand. There's no mascots, no banners, no billboards, no commercials in the typical sense. There are a specific list of fonts that can be used, and color categories for products. Advertisement is restricted to forms of reviews and as such there's a huge amount of value placed on customer reviews and feedback. (also think things like Shopping Network channels and segments on broadcast services)
The mindset is that if there's restrictions on forms of social manipulation or subliminal messages, the best of the best will get the most sales, allowing products and services more room to flourish, as they won't need deep pockets to compete in the forms of advertising against giant companies as what was common in the past. The phenomenon of 'Brand Loyalty' still exists, it just manifests in a different way, less prominent, more subtle. That and there's still of course money in review manipulation so it's not like it's a perfect solution, but it does lend to a completely different economic landscape. It also means day to day lifestyle isn't swamped in advertisement for every service imaginable. There's also more in the way of specific focused shops and less megamarts a-la Walmart or Target.
--
In most Ertakar establishments, there isn't a price on land. There's territory and borders sure, but in many cases putting a price on the land has lead to detrimental problems. Since dietary needs lend to require careful control of land in order to ensure the prey population remains stable, it's seen as a benefit to work as a group to ensure it thrives. Because of that, permitting ownership to land as an individual solely based on monetary accomplishment is seen as universally detrimental. It's not like it's been smooth sailing the whole way, there have been complications, and how living space is distributed varies, but ultimately property is seen as owned by the collective.
On the whole, if there's a place to live, you can live there. Large cities have a whole process involved with taking a constant census on the people, in order to ensure there's enough residential living space for both their own population and potential transferred population. Though due to the sheer size there can be waiting lists for any new transfers. Also they have specific designated living spaces for the elderly and those with special accommodations. (such as reserving the ground floors for flight-less Ertakar)
There's still aspects to their economic structure I'm figuring out, aside from the food stuff I mentioned the last time. I still have to consider how they handle education and sciences. All I knew is that there wasn't much in the way of property/land ownership and things like utilities are are considered essential to upkeep for all.