Economic rules

[Galveston Bay]

Income
Income can be collected from resources, taxes, production centers and commerce. Any income in excess of spending is rolled into tax rebates for that year or applied to the National Debt. For Tech level 3 and lower nations it is simply wasted on vanity projects or lost to corruption.


Resources:
These provide 1 point of Income each, and represent things like lumber, coal, metals, food production, and general commerce of a region. They are assigned by the referee and new ones can be discovered as time progresses (representing expanded production) or sometimes based off new discoveries.

Industrial Centers
Require access to a resource on a 1 per 1 basis. This access can be from overseas trade. Without access to resources they are merely craft centers. Unlike the rest of the economy they can be mobilized for war. Normally they produce 1 point per production center. In wartime, this increases to 5 immediately at the outbreak of war as orders flow in. On the start of the second year of the war they increase to 10 per production center, and every year after that expand by 5 to a maximum of 25. However, 1 resource is needed for every 10 points of production (3 needed for production of 25) and again this can be from overseas trade. In addition having industrial centers makes Tech level 3 and 4 units cheaper, and makes the production of tech level 5 units possible once they become available.

Craft Centers:
Although most items are still made by craftsmen, there are some cities that have such a concentration of craftsmen as to be particularly valuable in themselves. A craft center does not necessarily mean that a production center will show up there later. There are other factors at work. But they are a prerequisite to getting one later.

Each craft center has a value of 1, above and beyond any resources there already. Some cities are even more valuable and their rating will be indicated. Each craft center provides a bonus to reducing the cost of military units cheaper. They do not however have the ability to expand production like production centers do during wartime.

Taxes:
For the duration of the 19th Century, income and head count taxes are considered to be spent on the administration of the state, education (although somewhat limited there), and other government functions. Only in war time can these be expanded, maximum is 1 point per million people.

Commerce:
This represents internal and external commerce
Minor ports provide 1 point per year, and can be blockaded during wartime by the enemy
Major ports provide 5 points per year, and see above
Entrepots are massive ports and are the linchpins of global trade. They produce 25 points, and see above
(a WIF port is not necessarily a port for this game. Many are merely anchorages or indicate where an amphibious landing can be conducted)
The income from all ports represents coastal trade, some international trade, and fisheries. Some fisheries are big enough to generate resources while some trade (international long distance trade) generates shipping units

Shipping units are large cargo and passenger ships that specialize in long haul trade (think UK to Australia or India, the Transatlantic Trade, etc). They can be mobilized as military units during wartime but generate 1 point each in peace time.

Infrastructure
These are roads (semipaved and generally all weather), highways (paved with strong bridges) and eventually railroads and telegraph lines. All of this infrastructure stimulates internal trade, helps with international trade and it all helps business and thus the tax base. Some nations will get railroads cheaper than others as they have free markets, while some will have to spend to get them. Rules will be available.

On the WIF MAP, look at the roads in your homeland (and elsewhere). This is where a road, and eventually highway and railroad can be built. Some nations have them spelled out (if they only have partial coverage) while others (almost all Western European nations) have already built up to highways.
A road gives you .25 points for every hex it runs through. A highway gives you .5 points for every hex it runs through. They are considered to have bridges.

Railroads will give you 1 point per hex it runs through (but initially can only be built in clear, woods, or urban hexes). Telegraphs add another 1 point per hex (and run alongside the railroads). A tech level 6 railroads and telegraph lines can be built in any hex except for Arctic hexes.

Costs: Roads .25 points per hex (free if 10,000 paid workers/forced laborers/convict laborers/conscripted military pioneers are used, or 5,000 regular army engineers are used). It takes one year to build a road through a hex (all forced labor units are considered garrison units for maintenance and build purposes)
Highways cost .5 points per hex (double the labor from above)
Forced labor can be used for railroads, but the iron and wood is still required, so using forced labor reduces the cost of a rail hex by only half.

Railroads cost 1 point per hex. However, some nations will get them at .25 points (representing paying incentives to the companies that build them). Nations with this advantage will be so informed. Once again 1 year per hex at Tech Level 5.

(Infrastructure above gets cheaper when dynamite and later bulldozers become available)

Canals and River traffic
nations with this advantage are informed by the referee who determines its value. Most of the canal building has already occurred but at higher tech level massive improvements to navigation along the bigger rivers will be an option. Some projects will have to wait for the 20th Century, while the Suez Canal will require Tech level 6 and some negotiation or military action.

Overall commerce
This represents this sum total of all of your income x 2 which is in effect the business wealth and taxes generated by it. In effect everything above is worth twice its value because it generates secondary earnings for associated businesses or businesses that are able to take advantage of the market they generate. This somewhat replaces the head count taxes used in previous games.

Special Financial
If your nation has this income, it represents what used to be available as financial center income. Income from this source also represents what is available to the global lending and bond market and is what poorer nations without this advantage seek to borrow from when they borrow. You can lose this income if your banks lend money to a nation that then defaults. This can trigger economic problems.

Special Rules – Inflation and Depressions
I have worked some out. I am not going to tell you what they are. You don’t have enough economists yet to figure them out.

evil grin

[Galveston Bay]

special projects and additional things you can build will be posted in this thread

[Galveston Bay]

National Debt
You can borrow beyond your income limits each year.   This is called a national debt.   Somewhere there is a balance between having some debt and thus bonds which are viewed as safe investments, and too much debt.   This will be determined by the referee on a nation by nation basis.

Debt is 1% (sometimes more) interest payable each year.   Failure to pay interest creates a major financial crisis.   Continued failures to pay can be catastrophic. You also must pay 1/25th of your actual debt (so interest and principal)

Beware. Not meeting financial obligations will cause bad things to happen.  

Take you debt, assume it rolls over each year into bonds that generally speaking have a 25 year life to them.   We will skip continually having to renew them and other things treasuries do for game purposes.  (This isnt Bankers and Lenders, the Game)

Take your income, subtract the interest you owe (1% usually of your debt) and deduct that from your income.  What is left is what you have to spend.  

You need more, you borrow.   However, Agrarian Nations cannot borrow more than their total income as total national debt.   A Commercial nation can have a debt up to 5 times their annual income, while an Industrial nation can have a debt up to 10 times their annual income.   We start hitting those limits and the referee will bring out the Inflation/Depression rules.   (which will also be appearing during some other trigger events)

This seems the easiest way to handle a terribly complicated subject and keep things focused on the game instead of bookkeeping.

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