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On Tue, 2/24/15, Bruce Johnson <johnson@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU> wrote:

 Again and again we’re
 clubbed over the head with the fact the the writers of
 Traveller have only a fleeting and illusory grasp of
 economics.

 For lower TL
 items to maintain market share in the face of cheaper,
 better items made at a higher TL to those lower TL points
 there would either have to be substantial savings in buying
 them (which there isn’t) or some substantial barrier to
 getting the ‘low tl things made at high tl’s.

 This is *kind* of a indicator
 of a ‘low trade’ model for the OTU, but that explodes in
 a poof of magic smoke when it hits reality: a ‘low
 trade’ OTU cannot possibly support a mercantilist, heavily
 militarized, trillions of starships OTU. If you have very
 little trade, there’s no point to the IN, let alone the
 kinds of infrastructure that produces 200dT Far Traders.
 Starships would be exptremely rare and astonishingly
 expensive.
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Actually, we've been over this point many, many times before & the answer always is;

"Yes, it can!"

The OTU can & does (it's 'canon', No?) support just such a 'low-trade' universe.

It just depends on what eco-rules one chooses to apply.

It is, after all, fantasy...

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