> He allowed the show to explore some of the ramifications of a universe that clearly still has scarce resources that need to be allocated.

I always thought it was interesting that the scarce resources you could get at Quark's were non-material (companionship, holodeck experiences, games, etc). The only defining characteristic of the substance the Ferengi use as currency is that it can't be produced by a replicator, which implies that everything else (including all the expensive bottles behind Quark's bar) could be.