Money in the Star Trek universe

I’ve written before about how our scarcity-based and exponentially growing economy will come to an end — one way or another. This time, let’s peek a bit further into the future.

The article The Economics of Star Trek: The Proto-Post Scarcity Economy discusses an interesting question. While I agree with some parts of it, others are also illogical or inaccurate. One example is the lack of distinction between the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet. While the Federation is a state-like interstellar and multi-species federal republic with a democratically elected government, Starfleet is basically the navy of the Federation. It is organized with a military rank structure adhering to the chain of command and its mandate includes deep-space exploration and defense. Another example — this one more central to the argument — is the notion that all usage of resources by Federation citizens is still accounted for, “presumably by the amount of energy required to produce them (say Joules). And they are indeed credited to and debited from each citizen’s ‘account.’”. This would essentially be money, and anyway: why would the price of everything be determined by the amount of energy needed to produce it while raw materials and human labour are not taken into account?

So here’s my take on the subject.

In Star Trek: First Contact Picard tells Lily: “The economics of the future are somewhat different. You see, money doesn’t exist in the 24th century... The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.” And Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has said: “In the 24th century there will be no hunger, there will be no greed, and all the children will know how to read.” (The quote is from this article that also lists some canon evidence on how money is used in the Star Trek universe.)

On the other hand, there is also repeated mention of something called Federation credit, Beverly Crusher bought a roll of cloth on Farpoint Station and had her account on the USS Enterprise-D billed, and there are still many traders and merchants operating. Federation citizens can also hold property, for example the Picard family vineyards.

Now, my interpretation is that while Federation citizens can hold money (presumably mostly in Federation credit), they rarely have to use it. Most products we still think of as scarce — like food, housing and transportation — are not scarce in the Federation anymore. From “The Economics of Star Trek” article:

If you eat a meal at Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, do you pay? It seems almost definite that you don’t pay. If you paid, with anything, including Federation Credits, that would be money. You could barter, but it seems if the entire economy was a barter economy, we’d hear it. No, it seems almost certain that you go to eat at Sisko’s, you don’t pay, and Joseph Sisko doesn’t pay for his supplies, and his suppliers probably don’t pay for theirs.

Energy is plentiful and almost everything can quickly be replicated. Tedious work is almost completely automated and people do whatever they do because they genuinely want to, not because they are forced to earn an income. I’m sure Joseph Sisko takes great pleasure in running his restaurant. Likewise, many Starfleet officers and Federation scientists seem to live for their jobs.

So while you can walk into a restaurant and get free food, I’m sure that if you were to walk up to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards — a shipyard owned by Starfleet — and asked them to give you a hundred ships, they would most certainly refuse. Unless you convince them that you need the ships for some scientific endeavour or to save the galaxy or something; then they’ll happily give you as many ships as they deem necessary and as they can spare. So certain things in certain quantities are still scarce, just not anything any individual human being would need or reasonably want.

You could argue that some humans will always be greedy. But I say they only want the big house and the ten Ferraris because those are proxies for social standing. As soon as social standing isn’t determined by the amount and kind of stuff you have — which is clearly not the case in Star Trek anymore — basically no one will want it anymore.

Now, there are still a few things left that will remain scarce. They generally fall into three categories:

1. Things that no amount of money can buy like love, respect, etc.
2. One of a kind things like the original Mona Lisa, prime real estate with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, etc. People might also attach a sentimental value to “original” (i.e. not replicated) goods like clothes or other souvenirs.
3. Goods which are impossible (like latinum) or expensive to replicate (like presumably Keva, Trillium and formerly Gemstones). Also, goods for which the replicator programming is not available like Romulan ale and other goods from outside the Federation. That’s why traders are still very much in need.

So while most Federation citizens will rarely use money in their daily lives, for items in category two and three above, a presumably relatively hard currency like Federation credits come in very handy. A currency is also required when dealing with cultures that still use money. So when Star Trek characters say “we don’t use money anymore”, it’s like us saying “we don’t ride on horses anymore” — it doesn’t mean that it could never ever happen, but usually it doesn’t.

It is hard to say in what exact circumstances Federation credit (or other currencies like gold-pressed latinum) are used. For example, would the planetary government of Earth really allow the monopolization of prime real estate? But it is safe to say that money is used more frequently when dealing with people from outside the Federation, similar to how native tribes seem to have used no money or bartering system within their own society, but would trade with other tribes they would meet sporadically.

Let’s hope that such a bright future eventually pans out.