Economics

The economics of Infinitas are somewhat complex - after all, we're discussing a setting in which 50 people were thrown together without so much as two hatchets to rub together, and had to reinvent the entirety of modern technology within 80 years. This rapid progress ends up leaving a lot of things out or behind. This mostly has to do with the simple fact that there is not enough effort or money to go around to rebuild all the trappings of a "modern" society. This article will attempt to cover the basics of the way Infinitas' economy works.

Definitions
What is an economy?

Simply put, an economy is the way a civilization regulates it's own supply of labor, materials, and goods. An economy needn't involve money - after all, money is merely a way to simplify the transfer the aforementioned three. Money is exchanged for labor, materials and goods, which the provider then exchanges with others for their own labor, materials and goods, and so on, and so on.

No matter how much money is in "circulation" like this, the level of labor, materials and goods available - hereafter known as "resources" - is somewhat independent of this, and vice versa. You could have little money and a lot of labor, or little labor and a lot of money. In the first case, money would be worth a lot of labor, and in the second case, labor would be worth a lot of money. This is why you cannot simply "print" money and have more of it - no matter how many golden coins you have in circulation, your available levels of resources are unaffected. Printing money doesn't give you a bigger workforce!

So, basically, an economy is the way a civilization prioritizes what is important, since the available levels of resources are almost definitely not going to be able to cover everything that could possibly be done - especially not in a place like Infinitas, where so much needs to be recreated, often from scratch!

Farming
Farming is what makes civilization possible. Infinitas is a volcanic island with highly rich soil, and as such crop yields are generally quite high. On top of this, farming methods are somewhat advanced - seed drills are regularily used in the richer villages. To this end, a single farmer can support five to ten other people off a single strip of land - a full fledged farm can support as many as twenty five.

Labor
Workforce issues, education etc

Goods
Manufacturing state, cottage industry