Quote:Well, the thing to remember is that for the first generation or so the economic gravity well (so to speak) is centered on Earth. The vast majority of the population is on Earth, as is the vast majority of the manufacturing capability, agricultural capability, information infrastructure, etc. Fenspace is technically a peripheral nation to the terrestrial globalized economy. This will change, of course, as fen start to build their own infrastructure, but not overnight.
now as to the fens using earth-based currency, i'm not sure if that makes much sense as soon as they set up their own cities.
As for currency currency, there's not much call for paper money in Fenspace, no. Paper money would probably be worth more as stock for Martian fertilizer than as money. But like so many other things these days, money can be reduced to electronic transactions. For practicality if nothing else, Fenspace would be a "cashless" society.
Quote:The situation is... in flux. I've been trying (with little success) to put together a Gazetteer article on the general Earth/Fenspace political scene, which includes the economic side.
You know, this really brings up more fundemental questions I had about Fen-Dane relations. Such as, are Fens able to invest in Earth stock markets, businesses, etc? Can they own property down there? What are the trade relations like?
To summarize very quickly: It's only in the last two years (2010-2012) that the major powers - the G8 plus the outlying Space Powers (China, India and the non-G8 ESA/EU members) - have officially deigned to recognize Fenspace as anything other than a collection of fringe weirdos. Smaller countries like Australia, New Zealand and the occasional corrupt thirdworldistan have had friendly relations since day one, but it's only very recently that major markets in North America, Asia and Europe have opened to fen. What all that means... is where I've been stalling. But I'll figure it out eventually.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"