Goumindong
Amarr
Merch Industrial
GoonSwarm
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Posted - 2008.12.31 08:51:00 -
[1]
Another member for the Pigou club...
Anyway....
Its kind of a good idea but I am not sure its going to have too much of an effect. It certainly will push sales towards lower security space but that doesn't mean it is likely to push players towards lower security space.
You're likely to move a lot of trading activity to a number of new .5 market hubs and possibly some low-sec hubs. I doubt any real large hubs will form in low-sec since player density increases risks and risks are direct costs to players wanting to move goods in and out of the area in any quantity. These risks are likely enough to offset any reasonable tax you can impose especially since people are typically risk adverse.
Part of the problem with this soltuion is that the risk in low-sec are too great to really apply a pigouvian solution. CCP probably wouldn't risk applying a tax high enough to have an effect and i doubt the players would stand for it. Remember, in a standard economy all the substitutes for the taxed good are places that trading will flee. But in eve we have to think of a third substitute, I.E. the real world. Where people would simply play less or not play rather than move to the lower security space. People playing less or not playing is a situation that is unacceptable for CCP.
A better solution to move people into 0.0 and low-sec is to simply makes 0.0 and low-sec better for individual production. If missions payed out twice as much in low-sec more people would partake. If rats were 2-3 times more valuable people would be more likely to go there. If asteroids were much more dense etc etc etc.
Remember, while in the real world a pigouvian solution is optimal, in Eve, CCP has the ability to make the substitutes strictly better by directly modifying the game. It would be like if God came down and made solar power 20 times more efficient because he wanted to move people away from oil. Yea, He could force governments to enact an oil consumption tax, but why would He do that if He could just make solar power better? CCP is working with an entirely more powerful set of tools than common economic players are and because of that, there are better and more straightforward things that they can do to influence player decisions.
They should probably use those better and more powerful tools than using even an optimal government strategy.
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