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Krugman 1978. The Theory of Interstellar Trade This paper extends interplanetary trade theory to an interstellar setting. It is chiefly concerned wtih the following question: how should interest charges on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer travelling with the goods than to a stationary observer. A solution is derived from economic theory, and two useless but true theorems are proved.

Highlights


(p.2) These complications make the theory of interstellar trade appear at first quite alien to our usual trade models; presumably it seems equally human to alien trade theorists.


(p.2) This paper, then, is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics.


(p.5) At this point is [sic] is unlikely that the reader will raise the following objection.


And his second theorem is that:
If sentient beings may hold assets on two planets in teh same inertial frame, competition will equalize the interest rates on the two planets.



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