The Merchant Guild of Koguryo has had a long tradition of studying and monitoring the Economic situation of the three kingdoms and their respecting provinces, in order to improve trade and create a system more profitable to all. However, before one can understand the more complicated aspects of Economics, you must know the reasons behind the existence of such a system at all. Only by understanding where we began, can we know where we are going.
The whole of Economics is based around one simple principle:
The Law of Scarcity
(…or what Economics is)
In essence, Scarcity is just as it’s name implies: It is a limited supply of resources, which can not possibly meet the wants for those limited resources. This law is based around the assumption that, as human beings, our wants are infinite: That it is the human condition to never be wholly satisfied with our current condition; that there will always be -something- we want. Of course, not all of those wants can be met, because there are simply not enough “things” for everyone to have everything that they want.
The Law of Scarcity, therefore, is as follows:
Economic systems are created because of the disparity between infinite wants, and limited resources to satisfy those wants.
If everyone could simply “have” whatever they wanted with no form of trade-off, resources would quickly vanish entirely, and no one could have -anything- they wanted (so we would all die). To deal with this problem, we have Economics.
In order to ration our wants, and replace lost resources so we do not run out, a system of trade with currency naturally develops. “Currency” encompasses much more then mere coins: Anything a society considers “valuable”, such as time, work, rare things, items, etc. (anything someone else would want) is considered currency for trade. We trade so that we may get something we want more then what we have now, and at the same time satisfy the wants of someone else. Since we cannot have every thing we want with our constant state of limited resources, we can satisfy our most important wants through trading the things we personally want less.
From this basic (and deceptively common-sense) principle, it is easy to see how scarcity applies to all of economics. Now that we understand why our system exists, we can investigate some of the particular aspects of economics and strive for an ideal system in the economy of the Nexus Kingdoms for the betterment of all.
-Notorious
Scholar of Economics