An Academic's Endeavour

[Nicodemus 6]

Nicodemus smiled, the bags under his eyes wrinkling as he squints. The attorney had quite a bit of free time, and had been writing. He just finished making copies of an essay on economics. It was wordy, boring, and severely lacking in elegant prose. A close eye could find more than one spelling error. Yet Nicodemus, in his boredom, had written this for the sole sake of disseminating knowledge. He walked out of his home with a high stack of copies, and left them all about the city. One at the steps of the Court, a few at the doorsteps of notable nobles, one on a bench in Noble, and one outside the Steggle Co. building. After all this was done, Nicodemus laid in his bed, sleeping for the first time in days, never giving a thought to any deeper reason why he ever bothered doing all this. His mind may very well have begun slipping away, or perhaps he was just that bored.

 

Peace and Prosperity:

An Essay On The Desirability Of Free Commerce and Limited Taxation
Penned and Replicated by Nicodemus Rosano, Attorney of The Court of Oren


This essay, which I believe necessary to pen, is in regard to one of the single most important pillars of the Empire, that of trade. I wish to describe to you all what I believe is the most desirable system for Oren's economy, one of as little inhibition by the State, a term I will use to describe government from here out, as possible. In the forth coming sections, I will describe the major areas that I believe necessary to address: trade with foreign nations, domestic trade, and taxation and consumption by the State.

I will first address foreign trade. In my opinion, free trade between nations is incredibly desirable. While it is indeed necessary in times of War to close trade, I also believe it a sensible assumption that trading nations are less likely to go to war. Interdependence is a sure bonding agent, though not the only ingredient of Peace. One of the most fearful ideas to me is that of what I call protectionism, or the exclusion of foreign competition to protect domestic merchants. Tis not common practice in our current time of relative prosperity, but lest natural disaster or some other catastrophe bring turmoil to our economy, such protection must never be enacted. I believe I have devised a wonderful analogy for this, called THE PETITION OF THE TORTCH MAKERS:
We, the associated crafters of torches, wish to bring to the State's attention a serious matter. A foreign competitor has severally weakened our aforementioned businesses. He is so fierce a competitor that once he arrives, all our customers flee in preference to his services. This competitor is none other then the SUN! We propose a law be passed, demanding the boarding up of every window, crack and crevice of every home, in order to insulate our trade from this devious competitor, and ensure our domestic economy survives.
If such a plan is ridiculous, yet so follows the logic of protectionism, then it is clear that restricting foreign trade is truly inane.

Next I will address domestic trade, the trade within the Empire. That too, ought to be kept free. Some would rally for State control of prices, particularly those who believe their good's undervalued. This idea is certainly ludicrous. Without a freely functioning price mechanism, the economy would be unable to distinguish which goods are more desired or needed, and which are less. The resulting catastrophe would be a huge surplus of unwanted goods, and a mass shortage of desired goods. The same goes for limited licensing of bars, taverns, and the like. If there is demand for more of these, but laws inhibit their being built, then costs will rise unnecessarily.

Finally and most pertinent, is taxation and consumption by the State. When I use the term consumption, I am referring to the using of material goods and services, such as iron, wood, stone, labor, food, etc. In my opinion, Consumption ought to be limited to absolute necessity. Maintaining the military and fleet, paying State workers at all levels, and maintaining the Emperor’s self, home, and family are necessities. Frivolous use of resources to unnecessarily grow the military, build unnecessary State buildings, and to otherwise over satiate the desires of State officials can only lead to disaster: higher prices, fewer recourses, and an impoverished people. Taxation ought to be kept equally low. Taxes ought not be collected to excessively build up the Treasury reserves, but solely to fund previously mentioned necessities. Due to the inefficient currency system we now have in place, which I may write about at a later date, taxes ought to be collected in the form of goods, services, and materials, whichever is most viable for each individual.

 

Thank you for taking the time to go through this, reader. May knowledge always be on your side; a powerful tool and a light burden.

 

[Scipp3r 451]

His Grace, The Duke Lord High Treasurer Patrick Denims-Therving has all of these Peace and Prosperity papers collected so the General Public may see the edited version he will have written. He then sends a reply to the attorney discussing his response and as his pros and cons viewed from this.

[SkyyoBee 249]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.