Welcome to my SP Discussion Series. This series main goal is to stimulate friendly, fun discussion among the community. Either monthly or weekly, I will explain a topic and leave a question for the community to answer. The questions can range from economics to sci fi, though they will all relate in some way to SP. I hope you guys enjoy this idea and I cant wait to see what you guys discuss.

Background Information

To start us off, I would like to share with you how I see the SP site because this will help us when explaining our current and future topics. To me, the SP site is it’s own microeconomy. It has its own currency (Upvotes), products (Builds), resources (User attention/Time), consumers (Site users), businesses (Builders), and government (Devs and Mods). By viewing SP in this perspective, we are able to relate real life economic ideas, terms, and theories with SP.

However, when discussing about topics about economics, it's important to know what type of economic system is being used by the economy. There are four types economic systems:

-Traditional

A traditional economy is the most basic and oldest of the four systems. They focuses exclusively on goods and services that are directly related to its beliefs, customs, and traditions. A traditional economy relies heavily on individuals and doesn’t show a significant degree of specialization and division of labor. They tend to appear in areas where certain resources are scarce or under lock and key and can still be found all over the world, mostly in rural parts of third and second world nations. They generate little surplus but also little waste, making them highly sustainable.

-Command

A command economy is an economy where a dominant centralized authority – usually the government – controls a significant portion of the economic structure. Command economies are also known as planned economies, with examples being the former USSR and North Korea. In command economies, the government controls and regulates the collection and distribution of resources along with processes surrounding them. They tend to appear in countries with access to large amounts of resources and require the government to work in the best interest of society.

-Market

Market economies are based off the concept of a free market, which is where a nation economy has little governmental influence. The government exercises little control over resources and it does not interfere with large parts of the economy. Instead, regulation comes from the people and the relationship between supply and demand (Also known as the invisible hand). This type of market is basically theoretical due to economies needing some sort of governmental intervention to protect workers and the public, however they are believed to have the fastest and greatest economic growth of all the four systems. An example of a market economy is late 1800's US.

-Mixed

A Mixed Economy is a mix of a command economy and a market economy. They combine the best feature of a command economy and market economy, with most industries being private while the rest, mostly public services, are under the control of the government. Most western countries have mixed economies, with examples being the modern US and Canada.

Question:

You may be thinking, why does this matter and how does it relate to SP? Well, one of the major differences between the four systems is the level of governmental control. The SP website has it's own form of governmental control, with it taking the form as rules. Without rules, the SP site would be a market economy. There are no restrictions to the ways an user can gain points. With each addition of a new rule, the site becomes more and more restrictive as it becomes harder and harder for an user to gain points (Moving closer to a command economy).

Keeping this in mind, here is your question:

What Economic System do you think would work best with SP site and why?

There are no right answers as we live in a world that is ever changing. Nothing solves an issue 100%. I hope you found this discussion form educational and thought provoking. Remember to have a great day or not, the choice is yours.