Economic science fiction

Ah, Heinlein. He did that kind of thing all the time. He’s write a story set in a society that had peculiar economic or social relationships, usually inspired by Heinlein’s combination of extreme libertarianism and militarism (you might think that they don’t go together, but plenty of right-wingers disagree). Then he’d have a character say, “Look around you! It works!” and of course it does, because the author wrote it that way.

Quite a bit of Stross’s output fiddles about with economics. Accelerando (and actually the whole Macx clan universe) primarily deals with how self-aware intelligences would economically interact with us meat-brains. There’s also, if I remember correctly, a bit about an Italian communist using computing power to overcome the inefficiencies of a command economy.

James Blish wrote a series of books between 1955 and 1962 about anti-grav drives enabling cities to fly through the galaxy engaging in the service economy. How the cities found markets, made profits, and rode out galactic depressions were major themes of the series.

//www.amazon.com/Cities-Flight-James-Blish/dp/1585670081

And Clif Simaak wrote wrote a book in the early 1960’s about alien real estate agents touching off a worldwide housing bubble. hmmmm…..

I must confess that my memory of *BTH* is foggy–it seems to me it had much more to do with ennui and dueling and scientific research into life after death than with secular stagnation driven by “oversaving.” That, it seems to me, is Aldous Huxley’s *Brave New World*.

Anyone for a game of centrifugal bumble puppy?

Mr. Krugman,

I was wondering what you thought of Senator Clinton’s criticism of both you and other economists who oppose removing the gas tax.

“I’m not going to put my lot in with economists. . . We’ve got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority of Americans.”

Do you consider yourself, as an economist, to be an elitist who supports policies that disadvantage the majority of Americans? If not, can you speak to your motivations, and to what you think of the rhetoric being used by Senator Clinton?

Also of note, Ursula LeGuin’s _The_Dispossessed_, which deals with the divisions and contradictions in a capitalist society on one planet and the isolated anarcho-communist society on the orbiting moon.

Krugman doesn’t mind contradictions–secular stagnation is not an idea to take seriously but of
course Malthus was right except for industrialization,
which inevitably leads to secular stagnation unless
drastic measures are taken (in 1984 the surplus was used up in continual warfare, which Americans can
surely appreciate at this point).

The key theme of the novel Beyond This Horizen was not how to dispose of surplus but rather a discussion of how MAD (not so named) at the individual level could lead to social stability (politeness). MAD was brought about by
everyone being armed and if you did manage to win a duel, then the deceased’s friends would likely come looking for you (Heinlein writes of disposing of a corpse by dumping him in the city streets and making him appear the victim of a private “quarrel”).

How this might work out in practice can be determined by considering inner-city areas (Drudge was carrying a headline of a “quarrel” where uzis were used a day of so ago). But Heinlein romanticized non-governmental social mores in maintaining the type of society he considered ideal (consider The Moon is a Harsh Mistress). Beyond This Horizen is not a bad novel as Krugman claims but its implications are horrendous.

For a good economic novel, read The Space Merchants (CM Kornbluth and Frederick Pohl), where advertizing agencies rule the world. Its reductionist approach to human economic activity will appeal to anyone who has ever cracked open a micro-economics textbook.

Foundation series: psychohistory, sociology, and economics on a galactic scale.

The neatest piece of economic analysis in a SF story that I’ve ever read was John Barnes “The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky” which dealt with revolution on the Moon. He used the old GDP equation Y = C + I + G to show that the independent Moon will remain dependent on the Earth economics-wise, (and thus the Earth will not need to re-invade Earth). Due to independence, output will rise, but since (in the background of the novel), there will be little increase in investment or government spending (libertarian economy), consumption will rise, but since most consumption goods are made on Earth, imports will have to rise. (presumbly, exports will rise as well, but most Moon exports will be technology-intensive not-necessarily consumption goods, and increasing interdependence between Moon and Earth).
Also, John Barnes had an article in Analog a couple of decades back on how to build a future economy. Interesting reading. I believe John Barnes had some degree in economics (though it may have been heterodox radical econ).
For my money, the best Stross book, (and one of the best books I’ve read in a long time) is Accererando.
P.S. I shouldn’t be surprised that so many economists were inspired by Asimov’s Psychohistory. However, in an essay (an editorial in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine), Asimov basically disavowed his idea that anything like psychohistory would be possible, and he did not believe that economics was a science. My own feeling is that the reason Asimov made his misguided effort to join the robot series and the Foundation series is to make psychohistory workable (in his personal view) by having the mind-reading robots guide humanity. (“If you can’t make the equation fit the behavior, have the behavior fit the equation.” Lucas)

Sorry, DeLong is closer to being correct than you are. Beyond the Horizon is partially about economics but is primarily in the utopian tradition of SF novels. This has a long and distinguished history including books like More’s Utopia and Bellamy’s Looking Backward. Stross’ somewhat garish novels are not primarily about economics but mainly about the old and very fun idea of parallel universes and alternative history.
The Daniel Abraham story DeLong cites, well worth reading, is primarily about ideas of value and exchange that economists use. This story is directly about economics in a way that Beyond the Horizon and the Stross books are not.

Let’s not forget Fred Pohl’s novels and stories about advertising and marketing (“The Space Merchants”–written with C.M. Kornbluth, about selling the colonization of Venus; and “The Tunnel Under the World,” in which the hero discovers that he is part of a tabletop simulation of a model town used to test advertising campaigns.

Interstellar economics plays significant roles in Cordwainder Smith’s “Norstrillia” and in Jack Vance’s “Demon Princes” tetrology. In Eric Frank Russell’s “The Great Explosion,” one of the planets visited works solely on a highly evolved barter system.

And I’m sure I’ve forgotten many others in which economics plays a major or minor role.

I’ll tell you what, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from this dispute between you and Brad Delong, it’s that “I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.”