Current Events > How does money work in Star Trek?

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The federation doesn't use money but everyone on DS9 has latinum
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DS9 is owned by Bajor, which is not part of the Federation yet. As such, the post-scarcity socialism of the Federation does not apply, as Bajor is not there yet. Latinum cannot replicated, so thanks to Ferengi trade ventures it's a de facto current across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Never outright said, but it's kind of implied that Federation officers have a stipend when stationed outside the Federation as part of a cultural experience kind of thing mined from within the Federation's massive territory.
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K181 posted...

As such, the post-scarcity socialism of the Federation does not apply, as Bajor is not there yet.

Interesting but this brings up another interesting perspective. When a new planet joins the federation, do they instantly become socialist?
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From first contact examples, the Federation has had a tendency to transition species into the fold. And as Bajor wasn't at that point when they were almost admitted prior to the Dominion War, I'd imagine that the transition occurs some point after admittance to the Federation.
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Yeah DS9 is not run by the Federation. It's owned by Bajor, they were there just to keep the Cardassians from coming back. It was only supposed to be a temporary assignment for Sisko.

Then they find the wormhole and are forced to stay forever in a real mixed situation.

The Federation does not need money. They have high levels of technology and a hard-working peaceful society of pushing for advancement.

Latinum is valuable because ater the advent of replicators, the value of close to everything in the universe crumbled. But latinum cannot be replicated. So like gold or diamonds today, they're great use as an interglobal currency.

Basically the Federation and Starfleet functions on communism that actually works. Everyone just works for "the people" and the state provides for everyone. Only in Star Trek land, there is very very litle corruption or greed or abuse or laziness, so the system just works
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I_hate_bacon posted...

K181 posted...

As such, the post-scarcity socialism of the Federation does not apply, as Bajor is not there yet.

Interesting but this brings up another interesting perspective. When a new planet joins the federation, do they instantly become socialist?

Yes.

This is why a lot of planets don't want to join.
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Latinum is valuable because ater the advent of replicators, the value of close to everything in the universe crumbled.

Did they ever explain why it can't be replicated?
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most of the commerce we see between Federation and non-Federation people is done by barter. So, since most of what they trade is likely replicated, it could be argued that the Federation's actual money is simply energy.
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I_hate_bacon posted...

UnfairRepresent posted...

Latinum is valuable because ater the advent of replicators, the value of close to everything in the universe crumbled.

Did they ever explain why it can't be replicated?

Aparrently the composition of Latinum is so dense and complicated that the replicators can't accuately replicate it and any attempt is blatantly replicated.

It's never really explained beyond that
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For what it's worth, DS9 does mock the idea that the money-free Federation exists alongside more standard economies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MUVGTdXkzk

Oh, I also looked it up and apparently one TNG episode mentions that replicators don't work on materials with "a certain amount of complexity in its molecular structure."
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K181 posted...

Federation officers have a stipend when stationed outside the Federation as part of a cultural experience kind of thing mined from within the Federation's massive territory.

So they don't use money but just keep piles of it around?
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I_hate_bacon posted...

K181 posted...

Federation officers have a stipend when stationed outside the Federation as part of a cultural experience kind of thing mined from within the Federation's massive territory.

So they don't use money but just keep piles of it around?

They would have to considering the of the universe uses it

Imagine if France stopped using currency and it worked.

They'd still need some form for interaction with the rest of the world
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I want to say latinum also has some sort of practical use, but I can't find anything on the wiki that agrees with me <_<
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