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Cost of Living

The "Trekonomics" of why the crew of the Starship Enterprise doesn't get paid

COVID-19 has brought ideas like a universal basic income from a fringe notion to serious policy option in the blink of a pandemic. But does the economy of Star Trek have anything to teach us about what that could look like?
CBC Radio ·
Star Trek actors look concerned.
Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker, Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise-D. None of these fictional characters were getting paid for their service to Starfleet. (CBS via Getty Images)
Cost of Living5:48The "Trekonomics" of why the crew of the Starship Enterprise doesn't get paid

COVID-19 has brought ideas like a universal basic income from a fringe notion to serious policy option in the blink of a pandemic.

Since the sky seems to be the limit on possibilities right now, we figured why not see if actual science fiction can tell us anything about where we might go both boldly and economically.

So where better to look than Star Trek? (or Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, et cetera …)

Cost of Living producer Anis Heydari (who may speak some conversational Klingon) explores whether the economics of the United Federation of Planets holds any lessons for those of us still on Earth, through a subspace* communication with Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek.

*The 21st century internet may have been a stand-in for futuristic subspace transmissions.

 

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