Economist/Legends

An economist was a specialist in the field of economics, with a system economist being a type of economist. Members of the Cerean species, who possessed complex binary brains facilitating rapid processing of information as well as a good ability to notice patterns and trends, became renowned as expert economists not long after making first contact with the wider galaxy. After warfare in 10 ABY caused incalculable damage and population casualties on the New Republic capital planet Coruscant, economists made dire predictions about how much time the city-world would need to recover—prognoses that were revealed to have been too pessimistic a year later.

In the decades following the Great Sith War of 3996 BBY, Herron Morvis was an economist who brought about the ratification of the Coruscant Financial Exchange Establishment Act as well as served as the director of Coruscant Financial Exchange. Later, the economist Argee Beck made cautionary comments—reported on by the HoloNet News—during the Separatist Crisis concerning the proliferation of new currencies that was enabled by the InterGalactic Banking Clan, while Teubbo was a Hutt economist who allied themselves with Imperial Warlord Zsinj at some point between 4 ABY and 8 ABY. In addition, the Human Kane Griggs wanted to become an economist while enrolled at a university of the Galactic Empire; however, personal experiences of the Galactic Civil War later made him quit his job at the Botor Income Ministry and sign up as a recruit in the New Republic Defense Fleet instead.

Description[]

An economist was a specialist who worked in the field of economics.^[1] In their line of work they could benefit from being able to recognize patterns and trends.^[2] Economists could be interviewed for their analyses of financial developments such as those concerning currencies,^[1] and at times they offered their prognoses on how difficult economical situations would progress over time.^[3][4] In their work, galactic economists tended to overlook corporations that only operated in a handful of star systems.^[5] A system economist was a type of economist.^[3]

History[]

Under the Republic[]

Reformers and natural experts[]

Herron Morvis was an economist who brought about the ratification of the Coruscant Financial Exchange Establishment Act in 3985 BBY. The act allowed galactic corporations to invest in the rebuilding of the Galactic Republic's infrastructure, including its navy, in the aftermath of the Great Sith War of 3996 BBY and helped end a decade of economic depression that had followed the war.^[6] At some point, Morvis also served as the director of Coruscant Financial Exchange.^[7]

The Cereans, a sentient species native to the Mid Rim planet Cerea, had elongated craniums that housed complex binary brains. Their physiology allowed the Cereans to rapidly process information and notice even convoluted or obscure patterns and trends, and soon after they made first contact with the wider galactic community, they became renowned as expert astrogrators, cryptographers, and economists.^[2]

[]

During the Separatist Crisis, when star systems were seceding from the Republic, the InterGalactic Banking Clan announced it had expedited the process of registering a new currency to under thirty minutes. In response, the economist Argee Beck commented that the process being so easy presented potential risks to those systems. Beck argued that they would be tempted by the introductory one-to-one exchange rate offered by the Banking Clan as well as the implications of having the name of their own name on money.^[1]

The economist also noted the basic principle of economics that the relative value of any currency was determined by how many units of other currencies one could buy with it. As an example, Beck pointed to the King Kikipi credit of^[1] the Outer Rim Territories'^[8] Toong'L system, fifteen million units of which could be purchased with just one Republic Credit—with the economist further claiming that the Kikipi reserve consisted simply of a room filled with Wocket Festival ornaments. Finally, Beck also provided a warning that the Banking Clan's interests ultimately lay with being paid transaction fees for currency conversion services, not the long-term success of the currencies it facilitated the registration of. On the date 13:3:14, the economist's comments, juxtaposed with those by the Banking Clan's Vice-Chair of Communications Lo Vapeet, were included in an issue of the CoCo District Edition of the HoloNet News.^[1]

The Empire and beyond[]

Students and prognosticators[]

Kane Griggs was a Human from the planet Kerensik of the Botor Enclave^[9] of the Core Worlds^[10] who studied at a university of the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War and prior to the destruction of^[9] the Core Worlds planet^[10] Alderaan^[9] in 0 BBY.^[11] He was interested in becoming an economist and wished to obtain a comfortable job in bureaucracy. Griggs went on to hold a position at the Botor Income Ministry, although after the Empire began to fragment in the wake of its defeat in the Battle of Endor^[9] of 4 ABY,^[11] he quit his job and signed up as a recruit in the New Republic Defense Fleet as a direct consequence of the Empire being responsible for the death of his romantic interest, Marfa Thorbin, at Alderaan. Griggs eventually became a New Republic starship navigator.^[9]

Also during the Galactic Civil War, system economists were concerned that the rapid economic collapse on the moons Shesharile 5 and Shesharile 6^[3] of the Outer Rim Territories^[12] could expand to other worlds. However, that was unlikely due to the natural satellites having had relatively specialized economies.^[3]

Allies and pessimists[]

Warlord Zsinj built up his own Imperial splinter faction following the Battle of Endor, and sometime between 4 ABY and 8 ABY, he recruited not only other Imperial officers but also more unconventional allies. Among the latter was the Hutt economist Teubbo. Beginning with the latter year, however, Zsinj's holdings disintegrated.^[13]

In 10 ABY, Coruscant, the Core Worlds capital planet of the New Republic, was captured by a coalition of Imperial forces and subsequently became a battleground in the civil war that ensued between them.^[10] Economists, disaster consults, and public policy experts all prognosticated that the incalculable damage and high population casualties suffered by the city-world would take years, if not decades, to recover from. After the public hysteria subsided, however, the situation appeared to be much less dramatic than previously believed, and, a year later, the planet had returned to its usual levels of government and business activity, with the recent violence already receding from the collective memory of its inhabitants.^[4] At some point by 27 ABY, economists had also made the claim that waste production on a colossal scale was a sign of a healthy economy.^[14]

Behind the scenes[]

The occupation of economist was introduced in the Star Wars franchise via a mention of system economists in Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters, a 1990 sourcebook authored by Mark Rein-Hagen and Stewart Wieck and published by West End Games for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.^[16] The 1993 Dark Empire Sourcebook by Michael Allen Horne then identified the general occupation as economist.^[9] In the real world, an economist is a specialist in economics,^[17] which is a science that studies the general concepts of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.^[18]

The 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart introduced the character Teubbo, who was a Hutt economist allied with the Imperial Warlord Zsinj.^[13] In the endnotes to the book, Urquhart described Teubbo as an "intellectual," noting that the combination of that trait and the character's species was unusual and thereby connecting to Zsinj's eccentric image. Urquhart additionally commented that the economic practices of the Hutt culture also fit with the warlord's ruthlessness.^[15]

Enter the Unknown, a 2013 sourcebook published by Fantasy Flight Games for use with the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire line of Star Wars Roleplaying products, provided several suggestions on character backgrounds that players of Explorer characters could incorporate into their roleplaying considerations. One example—described as "interesting" by the book—of the Academic background as applied to Explorers with the Trader specialization was that of a radical economist who had become determined to alter the general operation of mercantile systems. In the example, the economist had developed theories related to their convictions and was making their way to the Outer Rim Territories in order to test them.^[19]

Appearances[]

This article has an associated index page with page numbers and/or timestamps.

• Currency Upheavals Deliver Profits to IBC — HoloNet News Vol. 531 #47 (original site is defunct) (Mentioned only)

Sources[]

• Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters (First mentioned)
• Dark Empire Sourcebook (First identified as economist)
• Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters, Second Edition
• The Jedi Academy Sourcebook
• Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook
• Ultimate Alien Anthology
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 138 WAS 1-4: Waste Disposal
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook
• Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
• The Essential Guide to Warfare
• Enter the Unknown

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• Economist on Wikipedia