History Main / ArtisticLicenseEconomics

* ZigZagged in ''Franchise/StarTrek''.
** This franchise and its descendants promised Creator/GeneRoddenberry's fantasy utopian future, which stated that money no longer existed. Unfortunately, that raised a whole ''slew'' of unanswerable questions. Like, without money or coercion, how do you get enough people to do necessary but thoroughly disagreeable jobs (although there are some very sophisticated robots). Heck, it becomes impossible to justify enough people deciding to wait tables. The biggest fail, though, is that without ''some'' means of exchange, how can members of the Federation deal with issues of resource management? Though it's supposed to be a post-scarcity economy, it still ignores that some things simply cannot be replicated at will, like a particular house in a particular location, seats at a particular show on a particular night, and are still going to be scarce (i.e.: not enough to satisfy wants). Not that this is necessarily that big of a problem.
** Credits existed in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]], though seemingly only on the fringes of TheFederation. After Roddenberry passed away, the galactic monetary standard of gold-pressed latinum (Latinum being a mineral that is very difficult to replicate, which prevents anyone with a replicator from running a mass counterfeiting operation) was introduced. These helped a little. ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' introduced the idea that the post-scarcity economy only existed on certain planets-- Earth and Risa are two shown-- and virtually every other planet had some form of currency, with the interplanetary exchange being gold-plated latinum. And Starfleet personnel get a stipend, at least if they're stationed on the station, as the crew never seem to be lacking for latinum to spend at Quark's bar.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
*** They never quite explain how Sisko's father was running a restaurant on Earth. Even assuming his food is superior to whatever his customers can get out of a replicator, how do they pay him for it, and what does he do with the money? Is it more of a hobby, like the Picard family's wine, and he just gives finished meals away to people who would enjoy them? One episode shows Capt. Sisko in the alley behind the restaurant shucking clams. This would imply that they're real clams (or else why didn't his dad replicate clams that were already shucked?), which raises even more questions. While it's possible that Sisko's father prefers real clams to replicated ones, who did he get the clams from, and was that person compensated for their efforts and how?

** The Ferengi, for all their supposed business-savvy, are extremely misogynistic to the point that females can't spend money or earn a profit. It takes until partway through ''[=DS9=]'' for someone to come up with the amazingly radical idea that not shutting out half of your population from the economy would lead to more profits for everyone.

* ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'': The Son'a and the Federation seek to strip mine a planet of metaphasic radiation, a precious resource that grants the inhabits of said planet youthful vigor and centuries of life, but which will render said planet uninhabitable and compels the Federation to engage in a secretive and illegal forced relocation of its 600 residents. Except, if a single harvesting process is all that it takes to siphon the entire planet of all of its metaphasic radiation, that suggests that there wasn't much metaphasic radiation on the planet to begin with, and if you are sharing it with the entire United Federation of Planets (i.e. with hundreds of billions of people) that radiation will run out fast, likely within the span of a few years. If the radiation is a renewable resource, then you could just take enough for your short term needs and come back for more later; if it is a ''limited'' resource, then you should be taking as little as possible for your short-term needs so as not to waste it. Either way, the villains are just being criminally inefficient if their method is going to slurp up everything and leave behind a dead husk.

%% * "Damn the Expenses" is the flaw in most CutLexLuthorACheck scenarios, as the cost of the gadgetry to commit crimes typically outweighs the potential monetary benefit of using it for larceny.

* {{Reconstruction}} in ''Series/TheOrville''. The Planetary Union has a post-scarcity economy for the same reasons as ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' (being an {{homage}} to the series), namely cheap, clean energy and {{matter replicator}}s. However, Kelly explains in the penultimate episode of season one that, even though material resources are plentiful, people with skills and the will and connections to use them are not[[note]]in the pilot, Ed mentions that the Union Fleet is having trouble finding crews to keep its ships running[[/note]], so the Planetary Union economy largely runs on people's reputations: ''things'' no longer have value, but ''people'' do, in a non-slavery way. Status is earned by what you do, but you can fully dedicate yourself to a practice and be the best you can be, which in turn ''is'' your economic value. The other side of this is explored somewhat obliquely in the second season: Lieutenant Gordon, known as an ace pilot, decides he wants to be more than just that and applies for command responsibilities. While Commander Greyson's initial reaction could be considered a "wait, ''you'' in command?" reaction, there's the implication that if he goes for command and doesn't do well, it will devalue his personal reputation because he will be going from a "Great Pilot" to a "Below Average Commander".

* The first ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' book explains why that series averts this. It is said that transmutation is relatively simple magic, which could allow the Others (and specifically the Watches) to manufacture money (or any other resource). It is said that most non-Watch Others would be severely limited in the degree to which they could do this, whereas the Watches themselves assign minor Others to the task of managing their business holdings to fund themselves. It's explained that they do this because they don't want to ruin the local economies (which, considering that the books are set in Russia, are bad enough as they are).

** The money bin itself has issues. It's said to be 3 "[[UnitConfusion cubic acres]]" in size, and seems to be largely filled with gold coins. Assuming a "cubic acre" is a volume equal to a cube where each face is an acre, that makes each side 208.7ft [[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21969100 It's estimated]] that ''all the gold in the world'' would fit in a cube 67ft on a side. Scrooge's money bin should have a ''lot'' of empty space, and probably be far too shallow to [[PooledFunds dive in]].

** After learning about numismatics from Donald (presumably no relation to the above case) and realizing how coins are more valuable the rarer they are, he induces an artificial scarcity by buying up every coin of a certain mintage, and dumping all but one into the deepest part of the ocean, making the remaining one priceless. (It promptly has a run-in with a steamroller, necessitating the main plot of them diving into the ocean to find a replacement, fighting Atlanteans in the process.) In the end, he has the coin valued and starts looking for a buyer... only to be told that the only one rich enough to afford it is ''Scrooge himself''.

** While modern viewers may believe the ending is a straight example because it'd be impossible to do in real life (since it hinges on the use of insider trading), when the movie was made, [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught it was]] '''[[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught not]]''' [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught illegal to use insider trading in commodity markets (as opposed to the stock and bond market)]], where the climax takes place (although a government courier could still get in trouble for unauthorized release of government information). In fact, [[ThereShouldBeALaw this movie was cited when they eventually made the law banning it]]. All the other reasons the ending wouldn't work today fall under TechnologyMarchesOn.

* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Zorg espouses the "Destruction Equals Employment" mentality, and demonstrates it by destroying a glass and explaining how the machines that clean the glass shards away employ so many people manufacturing them. However, Zorg doesn't mention that only companies like his, which profits off of war, stand to benefit, rather than society as a whole. It's a version of the Parable of the Broken Window, which is explained in more detail at Website/TheOtherWiki.[[labelnote:short version]]Destroying something only benefits those companies that can replace that destruction and nothing else. The theory is that a windowmaker hiring someone to go around breaking windows may benefit the windowmaker (in the short term), but does nothing for society as a whole, as money spent replacing windows is money that cannot be spent elsewhere, and is spent simply on restoring the status quo. Also, disasters are not profitable, as money is spent restoring a status quo that could have been spent on improvements elsewhere absent the disaster in question. War is also a useless expense, as money is spent on bullets that fire and bombs that explode that destroy buildings and machines that money has been spent to create. Money spent on war and the military and the industries that support them are by definition a necessary sunk cost, as a state-sponsored military cannot generate profit or become self-sustaining (relying on continuous infusions of taxpayer money to function) and, at its most basic level, their function is to blow shit up and kill people, neither of which have an inherent economic benefit. This doesn't mean war cannot in the long term create conditions where future economic expansion can flourish, but that is outside the scope of this theory.[[/labelnote]]

* The Mexican satirical film ''Un Mundo Maravilloso'' portrays an alternate Mexico which simultaneously has economic growth and stability ''and'' rampant poverty, widespread unemployment and plunging stock markets at the same time..

* Zig-zagged in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''; they still use money, but the resources with the biggest restrictions are [=PTUs=] (post-transuranic elements) to make ship hulls, and Annie plants (made of neutronium) to power them (and even then, the size is the limiting factor). The cast meets a race that had the capacity to ''easily'' produce [=PTUs=], and unintentionally ended up with a "planet sized debt" from selling off some of their ships. In a more humorous note, Schlock gets transferred from one ship to another, and complains... because the previous ship could make cookies any time he wanted.

** Some D&D campaign authors have tried to account for how economics consistently. This leads to unusual outcomes, such as [[https://critical-hits.com/blog/2017/02/22/the-wizards-and-the-sheep/ high level wizards taking over sheep ranching and enforcing a monopoly to ensure that they can get enough parchment for spell books while keeping prices high enough to make the magic work]].

* In the ''[[Franchise/SpiderMan Web of Spider-Man]]'' episode titled "Gold Rush!" the Beyonder innocently turns a whole building into gold in the middle of the night; the U.S. government however decides to keep it a secret and pay the Kingpin to forever keep the gold out of reach (i.e. secretly throw it into the ocean's depth) since its discovery by the public would supposedly destroy the world's economy. But in reality, that would no more destroy the world economy than would a major gold strike in the mining industry. It would depress gold prices for a while, but since no one uses the gold standard anymore, it would have very little effect beyond that. Doesn't stop Spidey from swiping one item, a gold notepad, though; he just uses it to help pay off Aunt May's home to prevent it from being repossessed.

* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Zorg espouses the "Destruction Equals Employment" mentality, and demonstrates it by destroying a glass and explaining how the machines that clean the glass shards away employ so many people manufacturing them. However, Zorg doesn't mention that only companies like his, which profits off of war, stand to benefit, rather than society as a whole. It's a version of the Parable of the Broken Window, which is explained in more detail at Website/TheOtherWiki[[labelnote:short version]]Destroying something only benefits those companies that can replace that destruction and nothing else. The theory is that a windowmaker hiring someone to go around breaking windows may benefit the windowmaker (in the short term), but does nothing for society as a whole, as money spent replacing windows is money that cannot be spent elsewhere, and is spent simply on restoring the status quo. Likewise, disasters are not profitable, as money is spent restoring a status quo that could have been spent on improvements elsewhere absent the disaster in question. War is also a useless expense, as money is spent on bullets that fire and bombs that explode that destroy buildings and machines that money has been spent to create. Money spent on war and the military and the industries that support them are by definition a necessary sunk cost, as a state-sponsored military cannot generate profit or become self-sustaining (relying on continuous infusions of taxpayer money to function) and, at its most basic level, their function is to blow shit up and kill people, neither of which have an inherent economic benefit. This is not to say that war cannot in the long term create conditions where future economic expansion can flourish, but that is outside the scope of this theory.[[/labelnote]].

** Labor seems to also be slightly out of proportion to physical goods and food, as typical manual labor costs are 2 silver a day, barely enough to feed the people and give them a spot on the floor of the worst slum in town. Apparently, all labor consists of malnourished (and nearly naked) beggars. Even worse, most places the PCs visit tend to assume relatively stable employment rates (PCs aren't usually bombarded with descriptions of vast hordes of unemployed laborers just sitting around when they enter town, and most feudal economies have most peasants tied to the land and therefore gainfully employed). So, 2 silver a day would be considered the attractive price to lure otherwise employed people from doing whatever they were previously doing to work for the player characters instead.

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheNaturalTwenty'', D&D-style wizard Milo crafts magic items according to D&D 3.5 rules, which means he needs to provide a stock sum of money for materials. Trade goods can be used in lieu of actual money, and uses the pricing set by the core books - where salt, for instance, has the approximate equal value of ''silver'' per pound. However, in the time period of the HP books, salt is actually dirt cheap, to the point that muggles dump tons of it on roads to clear away ice. Once Milo realizes he can buy low-grade salt for a pittance, re-value it into a fortune by his standards, and then spend it making magic items the Ministry will pay hand over fist for, he's basically broken the economy.

* People who live in the civilized empires of ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' can easily go their entire lives without ever having to work, Archailects can provide anything they need and much of what they want for free. The most common professions are those concerned with raising the next generation, either through parenting or by altering non-sentient species so that they become intelligent enough to join galactic society.

** Da Orks actually use their teeth as money. Disgusting, and also guarantees high inflation since they keep growing back their teeth like sharks, although the teeth do degrade with time (meaning [[SpacePirate Freebootaz]] who hide chests of teef on deserted asteroids are going to be very disappointed if they ever get back to them). The Bad Moonz clan are among the richest of orks because they have a mutation that causes their teeth to grow faster, although any other ork can redistribute the wealth with a solid punch in the mouth. They also have a barter economy in weaponry and "shiny fingz" (which can be traded for each other) and squigs (weird fungus-animal hybrids that can serve as pets, ammo, hair plugs and everything in between, orks never get why humans aren't interested in trading for them). Not to mention perpetual war that guarantees consumption too high to leave any surplus for investment. Of course, given we're talking about the orks here, [[JustForPun orkonomics]] probably works much like their notion that "da red wunz go fasta": [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve the orks collectively think it ought to, so it does.]] There are occasional hiccups when some Ork whiz-kid develops a method for perpetually preserving teef; this doesn't cause too much trouble, though, because it's hard to imagine what could make Ork society more chaotic and unstable than having Orks in it already does.

* In ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfStefonRudel'', one of Stefón's deeds is a generous donation to the rebuild of France consisting of several billion dollar in government bonds. The author doesn't seem to understand that this isn't really generous, since it means that Stefón wants the money back later. Plus interests.

* Briefly discussed in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'', where the Ducks are introduced to a machine which can create ''anything''. [[TheSpock Huey]] is curious how it can create something from nothing (thereby violating the first law of thermodynamics), but [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Louie]] tells him not to question a device which could grant him infinite gold. Huey has to explain that if you made infinite gold, the price of gold would be severely devalued (also counting as a ContinuityNod, since the people of the Moon ''do'' have a a massive quantity of gold and [[WorthlessYellowRocks consider it to be monetarily worthless]]).

** In the third film, insurance companies are listed as one of the primary beneficiaries of The Purge, and this is shown when one character has their rates tripled hours before the Purge starts. In reality, the effects of damage becoming far more likely (such as with an increase of natural disasters) on the insurance industry are well-documented; companies can raise their customer's rates to a point, but will eventually collapse as more and more people drops their insurance (even the most essential industries understand you can't get blood from a stone), and the companies have to make more and more payouts until they go bankrupt.

** One story has Scrooge (for some inexplicable, out-of-character reason) worry that he was making money faster than he can spend, and takes Donald and the nephews along for a lengthy, extravagant trip where they wast tons of money on cars and food. When they return home, Scrooge has made even more money because, everything they bought having come from his own businesses, the money spent failed to deduct from his fortune while his regular business interests continued to generate money.

* ''Film/ThePurge'' is guilty of a double failure: first in not understanding what is a feasible way to improve the economy radically, and second in what are the signs of a booming economy:

** For what it's worth, it's implied here and there that the "thriving economy" claims are just propaganda put out by [[GreaterScopeVillain the New]] [[DayOfTheJackboot Founding Fathers]]. And sure enough, the follow-up films explore things further and showcase that [[spoiler:1) the Purge doesn't really work as advertised (only the real psychos are out there doing the killing, everybody else locks their doors. The NFF actually have to send out mercenaries to bolster the casualty figures because most of the people who ''are'' using the Purge to break the law are using it to have fun to the effect of having orgies and using otherwise illegal drugs recreationally) and 2) the NFF party is full of ''utterly freaking insane'' "one-percenters" who took over the country just so they could make their idea of a KillThePoor Thanksgiving (literally, with them even having a twisted version of saying grace) a legal reality.]]