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The Standardised Currency and Unified Economy

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 7:34 am
by Andreas the Wise
The Standardised Currency and Unified Economy (or SCUE for short) is essentially a shared currency and bank between a variety of micronations, including virtually all the big names in the sector. Each member who joins is issued with 7500 SCUE Currency per citizen who is not already participating in the economy; to distribute as they wish. As all members have the same currency, there is effectively a 1:1 exchange rate between all member countries.

The great advantage of the SCUE is that it expands the economy for all it's members. A Gralan can produce a stock exchange using images produced by a Nelagan and banners made by a Batavian; and sell it to Natopians. Most nations do not have enough citizens to support an economy themselves - the SCUE provides this wider customer base.

The SCUE does not impose an economy on it's members - members are allowed to do whatever they want with the currency they have been given (including name it); the only restrictions are they cannot print more money and they cannot impose extra costs on members of other signatory nations that they do not impose on their own citizens. However, the SCUE does allow nations to take advantage of various economic institutions member nations have created. There is the php Bank, which regularly has new features added, including the potential for companies to float stocks to be bought by other users; there are automated casinos and lotteries; and there is the Small Commonwealth Exchange, which includes stocks from three countries so far and is always open to have more.

In Summary:
Pros
- Lot's of people in different nations can now buy your stuff, and vice versa.
- Quality php bank.
- Stable currency.
- Freedom to do what you want.
- Access to the SCX, Commonwealth Casino, Lottery and more.
- Programming now exists to do a post-based economy, even though it's not connected to your forum directly.

Cons
- You can't print extra money for yourself.
- You cannot impose tariffs.

Applications to join should be directed to the SCUE Subforum on the MCS.

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:53 am
by Joe
Do you gain more money through taxes and stuff?

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:51 am
by Andreas the Wise
Once nations have money, they can do whatever they want with it. They can certainly tax their citizens to gain more if they want; but if you want to increase the total amount within the country you need to earn it from abroad. Which is relatively easy, given the size of the most nations relative to the international market.

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:31 am
by Joe
Do virtual citizens have money?

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:40 pm
by Andreas the Wise
For most intents and purposes this is a real economy, primarily transposed of real transactions between real citizens (or at least, OOC (Out Of Character) transactions between real citizens which may have IC (In Character) implications). While it would be possible to use this currency as a part of a primarily simulated economy, that would probably be hard, because most simulated economies I've seen tend to talk a lot about millions of whatever the national currency is being allocated to the defence budget, but it doesn't mean anything and no currency normally seems to change hands. Which seems odd for micro-economic realists like myself. Might just be I'm missing something. And it is naturally entirely possible to reference this currency and economy IC but I've yet to see an RP system that demands you have actual bank accounts for your different characters, rather than just RPing a character appropriate amount of wealth or using your own wealth as a proxy (which is what tends to happen with PCs (Player Characters)).

So I think it's safe to say that in all senses of the word, virtual citizens do not usually have money, though if you really wanted them to they could.

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 2:55 pm
by Joe
What would one unit be equivalent to in terms of government spending then?

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:44 pm
by Andreas the Wise
I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean "What is one unit of SCUE currency worth in comparison with some real world currency?" or "How much on average do governments within the SCUE spend/tax?" or something completely different?

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 4:48 pm
by SaiKar
Either way, the question kind of implies he's not getting what the system does.

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:11 pm
by Joe
Compared to macronational currency, what is one unit equivalent to?

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:20 pm
by SaiKar
Nothing whatsoever.

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:25 pm
by Joe
Nobody is understanding what I am asking, I know that it can't be used in real life, that would be stupid.

Can governments of micronations spend this currency on its departments, or is it only for personal use?

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:38 pm
by Rook
People are having a hard time understanding what you're asking because you're asking from a position of misunderstanding. The SCUE currency is your currency. America doesn't have a seperate set of money for private and government spending, it's just the dollar. Same with Britain. It doesn't matter what you use it on, same as with any money.

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:12 pm
by Andreas the Wise
Yes, governments have accounts the same way people do. Governments can spend money one whatever they want. What it mostly tends to end up on is bounties (rewarding citizens for cultural development) and offerring tenders (we'll pay you if you do this for us). How much is something worth? This is a free market economy with essentially no transaction costs (ideal situation for the Coase Theorem, for any of you economics students out there :D ), so what things are worth is "what people are willing to pay/accept." As a general guide, Shireroth pays between 100-200 for a standard cultural work, Gralus might offer 1000-2500 for a big tender like "Create a satellite system" or "National rail system", I charge between 100 and 5000 for programming work, depending on its complexity and my available time, and the most awesome micronational research agency you could ever imagine (JASO) fetched 15000 in an auction. Does that help?

I've never been one for comparing micronational currencies to macronational ones, so that other question is one I can't answer, sorry.

Re: The Small Commonwealth Unified Economy

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:29 am
by Joe
[quote="Andreas the Wise"]Yes, governments have accounts the same way people do. ... Does that help?[quote]

Yes, it does help. I'll apply to join then.