Callisian Economics

Money

On Callisia, there are various types of “money”. Money fulfills these functions:

a medium of distribution

a medium of exchange

a standard of deferred payment

a store of wealth

Money as a medium of distribution
To:

Voucher — given to people for their basic needs, from Acacallis

Coupon — given to people for comfort needs, from their polity

Bounty — given to people as rewards for extra performance, from any polity or Acacallis

Gift — given to people from other people

From

Duty — from people to their polity

Contribution (or tender) — from polities to Acacallis

Money as a medium of exchange

Credit — represents a measure of goods or services

Debit — used by polities to balance exchanges with other polities or Acacallis as needed

Token — represents a measure of value

Lucre — planetary currency used for luxury and extravagant goods and services, but mostly for off-world transactions

Money as a standard of deferred payment

Advance — receiving goods or services before paying for them

Loan — receiving a loan of money with repayment terms

Money as a store of wealth

Reserves — excess tokens, kept as reserves and to fund investments, give as gifts, enhance retirement, etc.

Lucre — planetary currency

Note: On Callisia, most wealth is kept in forms other than money and is not particularly liquid.
Types of wealth

Grant — specify rights to something, usually income producing (earnings) or occupation and life-style benefits

Share — percentage share of their polity

Allotment — a portion of income from their family or business unit

Investment — share of an income producing property (external to their polity), usually in the form of rents

Stock — share of a business, may produce income (rents) from dividends or profits

People can convert distribution money into transaction money and vice versa quite easily. Transaction money can be converted into lucre, and vice versa, by the Acacallis currency exchange. Goods and services may be purchased with lucre, but it is kept separate from other transaction money (unless converted).
Types of exchanges

Goods

Services

Information

Transactions Walk-thru

A person produces a product, say, grain, where the farm produce is under the rules of the farm grant.

The product is shipped to the polity warehouse and credits are issued for entire amount. Per the grant, most of the credits (in this case) go to the polity (which absorbs the cost of shipping and warehouse storage), with a portion of the profit (with a possible bonus) going to the farmer.

The farmer could keep some of their product, but that would be from their portion. If they keep the product, then they may consume it, give it away or trade it - but are then responsible for shipping and storage.

Note: seeds for next year’s crop would be deducted from the total amount so is included as part of the farmer’s rights per the grant. If the farmer wants better seeds, this is handled by credits or advances.

The products (in storage and represented by credits) can be redeemed with vouchers or exchanged by the polity for other types of product.

So now the grain is allocated to a farm for feed. The rancher receives the grain as either an advance or by redeeming credits. Either way, the cost of the grain is deducted from the revenue produced from the grant (e.g., cattle).

When the rancher sends his cattle to “storage” (usually a slaughterhouse), credits are issued for the cattle, and the rancher is given his portion.

The farmer and the rancher most likely convert their credits into tokens or credits for the goods they need to continue their business.

When credits are redeemed/converted, the people’s credits are redeemed first so that the polity always absorbs the cost of unneeded goods and spoilage.

People can obtain what they need for living with their vouchers, coupons, and bounties. These can be converted into credits or tokens, as needed.

More Details

Credits have to represent what actually exists. While debits represent a promise that the thing will exist. Credits and debits are used in the regional and planetary supply management. Debits are only used by polities and the Acacallis — for accounting and supply planning. Regional or world-wide credits vs debits show whether there is a surplus or inadequate supply.
Credits are classified into various types — meat, grain, etc. So they may be redeemed by whatever item of that type is available. However, for supply management purposes, specifics are tracked (as subtypes). For example, while anyone might consume different grain breads as food, horses might only eat oats and cows might eat only corn. Like anything else, the specifics and the quality of the item counts.
This grant process is why some in the Galactic Society considers the majority of Callisians unfree — because they are “bound” by their grants.
Vouchers — while all people are guaranteed a certain basic level of life which is represented as vouchers, some polities may have higher standards. And so they may give out coupons which act as additional vouchers. This means that those polities must contribute more than the basic amounts — which then gives them a “grant” to distribute coupons to their residents.
Bounties — these are given as rewards from any polity or the Acacallis. These normally come from the reserves of whoever is giving the bounty.
Coupons are used by polities to attract productive people to apply to join their polity and to reward incentive, innovation, and efficiency of their existing people. Competition may occasionally become unfriendly — leading to disputes in courts and arguments in the Acacallis. Mostly, these are resolved without violence.
Speaking of violence, since most people have gainful occupations, there is not as much violence as other worlds. Family life and structure is emphasized to encourage them to bond and form family units — which then keeps society more stable. Although there is an emphasis on family life, adults can choose other lifestyles, and satisfying occupations exist for those not interested in the typical family life.
Note: In Callisian family structure, the primary adults have shared responsibility. Approximately 70% of Callisian households maintain a male/female bonding family structure. The other 30% practice a variety of different household structures. Callisians do not care what type of structure a family has — as long as the children are properly raised and the adults have freedom of choice and agency.
Callisia doesn’t have banks. They have counting depots. The entire distribution system is managed by a network of accounting services referred to as The Bureau. Callisia does have a Treasury.

Note: This needs a lot of refinement as well as significant changes.