Re:The Theory of Interstellar Trade (1978)
by tw25592285 on Thursday December 31, 2020 @01:29PM
(#25595469)
> Should a human that can live for 1000 years be allowed to access interest rates that 100 year humans get?
Curious that you've framed the question in non-market terms (allowed by whom?).
> A 1,000 year human has many more opportunities
No more so than 10 generations of 100 year humans. People can and do coordinate over long time spans and multiple generations. Heck, that's basically what a corporation is.
> compounding interest will only grow his wealth further
Only insofar as they have deferred consumption for longer. This is how interest works.
> At the end of it, they have $358,816,... a huge amount of money.
Signifying the economic benefit from deferring consumption and instead putting those resources to productive use. This is a Good Thing.
> So any interest paid to the traveler should be calculated at the fraction of time experienced, so 5 minutes to 5 days would be 1 / 1440.
As you've described it, those travelers will already be more inclined to accept a lower interest rate than non-travelers. What's the problem?
Curious that you've framed the question in non-market terms (allowed by whom?).
> A 1,000 year human has many more opportunities
No more so than 10 generations of 100 year humans. People can and do coordinate over long time spans and multiple generations. Heck, that's basically what a corporation is.
> compounding interest will only grow his wealth further
Only insofar as they have deferred consumption for longer. This is how interest works.
> At the end of it, they have $358,816,... a huge amount of money.
Signifying the economic benefit from deferring consumption and instead putting those resources to productive use. This is a Good Thing.
> So any interest paid to the traveler should be calculated at the fraction of time experienced, so 5 minutes to 5 days would be 1 / 1440.
As you've described it, those travelers will already be more inclined to accept a lower interest rate than non-travelers. What's the problem?