Astroeconomics

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Astroeconomics is a field of economics, tasked with the duty of preparing the theoretical frameworks for economic policy in instances of interstellar travel, travel at the speed of light, and how they relate to economic topics such as interest rates and trade policy.

The first landmark work in astroeconomics was a 1978 working paper by future-John Bates Clark award-winning economist Paul Krugman in a paper titled 'The Theory of Interstellar Trade'. Krugman analyzed the question of

"how should interest rates on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer traveling with the goods than to a stationary observer. '

Tyler Cowen, professor of Economics at George Mason University, speculates on how time travel effects time preference discounting.

focuses on the determinants of real interest rates, given how time dilation changes the meaning of time preference. As you approach the speed of light you move into the future relative to more stationary observers. So can you not leave a penny in a savings account, take a very rapid spaceflight, and come back to earth "many years later" as a billionaire? Hardly any time has passed for you. In essence we are abolishing time preference, or at least allowing people to lower their time preference by spending money on fuel. I believe that in such worlds the real interest rate cannot exceed the costs at which more fuel can "propel you into the future through time dilation."

The field of astroeconomics is still in development, as few Economists have scrutinized many of the difficult economic conundrums that arise due to dilations in space-time.