Economy of Constancia

Economy of the Imperial State of Constancia
File:Insert Not Erb Currency Image.png
Currency:	Imperial Stater ($)
GDP:	TBC $
GDP by Sector:	Food (% of GDP): TBC $ (TBC%) Energy: TBC $ (TBC%) Other: TBC $ (TBC%)
Marketplace
Industries:	Food Spices Drink Wine Livestock Fish Energy Electricity Maritime industry Other Transportation Rail Air Sport Soccer Fighting Pits Military Education Mining Silver Gold Natural Gas Coal Oil Salt Chromium Limestone Brick kilns Construction Misc.
Major Industry (% of GDP):	Military (TBC %)
Largest Company (Value):	ESB Euran Directorate (TBC $)
Labour Force (% of Total Population):	4,740,865 (TBC %)
Labour Force by Sector:	Military and Defense: 1,320,000 (11.78%) Food (% of All Employed): TBC (TBC%) Industry Energy: TBC (TBC %) Services Other: TBC (TBC %)
Unemployed (% of Total Population):	TBC (TBC %)
Budget:	TBC $
Budget Surplus or Deficit:	TBC $
Inflation Rate:
Exports:	wine lead armaments fish (fresh, salted, dried) and fishery products shipping & maritime construction aluminium and articles thereof electrical, electronic equipment pharmaceutical products plastics and articles thereof vegetables, fruits, etc iron and steel products chemical products carpets artisanal soap salt sand sponges Nivardom marble expatriate and migrant workers Aqaba shore tar-naphtha scrap-metal potash brine gold silver
Export Partners:	Natopia, Shireroth , Kalgachia, Los Liberados, Florian Republic
Imports:	Grain, machinery, chemicals, natural gas, steel, alloys, vehicles, medicine, weaponry, financial services, electronic components (Kalgachi), computational servitors (Shirerithian)
Import Partners:	Natopia, Shireroth, Stormark, Caputia, Los Liberados, Florian Republic
Reserves of Foreign Currency:

The economy of Constancia is, perhaps barring that of internationally sanctioned Floria, the single most heavily regressed of all surviving nations impacted by the consequences of the War of Lost Brothers and its global aftermath. As such Constancia is one of the few countries of Micras to have gone from a developed to developing economy in the lifetime of its citizens, a consequence of abandoning the former national capital, Vey, and its surrounding agricultural hinterland on the shores of Lake Erik, as the land was rendered uninhabitable during the course of another continent wide conflagration. The evacuations represented catastrophic losses of infrastructure, investments, and population, with more than two million perished and almost a further million unaccounted for. Complete dissolution was only averted by the plunder taken from Iteru, political union with Raspur, and the re-consolidation of the state around the Gulf of Aqaba - sustaining the nation by affording access to the fleets of the Raspur Pact. The Constancian is heavily reliant upon state aid from the allied powers (Natopia and Shireroth), mostly received in the form of material transfers made via the allied theatre command; a fact which has led hostile powers, such as Jingdao to characterise Constancia as being little more than a Shirerithian colony - a claim furiously rejected by its inhabitants.

History

Inter-war period

The economy of Constancia is geared heavily towards reconstruction in the wake of two devastating Euran conflicts and the general dislocation in global trade occasioned by the Alexandrian Flu, War of Lost Brothers, the White Plague, and the consolidation of a hostile and invasive Bassarid polity along the shores of the Sea of Storms.

The major problem at the onset of Jaime Augusto Joaquin Primo de Aguilar's ascension to the Autokratocracy was Constancian access to credit, particularly in light of the economic losses suffered in the course of the Euran war. The Free and Associative Kingdom at the time utilised a free currency regime, had minimal tax revenue that accrued to the national government (although all real property was legally held in chief by the Basileus), and had major development needs. By adopting a policy of "Semi- State Capitalism" / "Coordinated Capitalism" combined with a top-down system of "National-Democracy", the Constancian regime sought to create conditions conducive for attracting inward investment by the powerful multinational corporations - such as the ESB Group, Iron Company, and SATCo - which were perceived as the underpinning of the economic system of the SANE (later Raspur Pact) alliance.

The intention of stimulating investment into Constancia also centred around a policy of economic liberalisation with the goal of making the economy more market and service-oriented, stimulating private investment and economic participation by the Euran populace.

These intentions were however widely criticised at the time for seemingly quickly degenerating into a form of crony capitalism wherein government ministers, the Autokrator, and even the royal family themselves, were perceived to be engaged in a monumental programme of self-enrichment through a series of convoluted stock issuances, asset swaps, and buy-outs, most of which seemed to involve, at some point or another, the ESB Group and its Euran or Keltian subsidiaries. All of this occurring while productivity stagnated and the tenuous democratic norms established after the first Euran War were increasingly flouted. The consequence of which would be a reckoning not long in coming for the Primokratíc regime.

Land, real property, and territorial rights

It was a settled precept in Constancian constitutional law that the Basileus, as sovereign, owned all lands of the Kingdom.

The Colonies Act 1637 [1] was one of the earliest laws that attempted to delegate this power, as Article 1, Section D of that law provided that, "Each demesne can establish its own customs and laws provided they do not conflict customs and laws of the Synklētos." In the absence of further Acts of the Synkletos, the disposition of property was therefore prohibited, and what resulted was that commercial interests had to personally negotiate land tenancy or lease arrangements directly with the Crown, which was a long, cumbersome, taxing, and costly process. In a since-declassified internal memorandum, then Kanikleios Primo de Aguilar, in his capacity as private secretary and chancellor to Autokrateia and Basileusa Cleo, noted that this was one of the considerations hindering progress in the Constancian economy.

Influenced somewhat by this line of thinking, the Synkletos adopted The Metropole Act 1642 [2], which repealed the Colonies Act 1637 entirely and clarified the legal situation. Article 2, Section A, for example, specified that, "The Constancian territories on Micras are divided into Themes. Exceptions are the Prosgeiosi Basileus and the Basileusian Capital (Vey)." and interestingly granted broad powers. Article 2, Section C, for example, stated that, "Themes are governed and administered in accordance with this Act, any further Acts concerning a particular theme, or group of themes, each theme's own customs and the Constancian law."

While Article 2, Section D of the law provided that, "Leaders of the Themes are accountable to the Synklētos and the Council," in practice, this was very rarely exercised by either body.

The Private Property Act 1657

This was clarified in the Private Property Act 1657 [3], Article 2, Section A thereof, which reads: "Ownership of all Constancian land is vested in the Basileus, particularly the Prosgeiosi Basileus, which is the personal property of the Basileus."

Article 2, Section B of the same law provided that: "The Basileus or the Synkletos or the Strategos of a Thema shall have the authority to declare, by written instrument, that certain parcels of land within the Free and Associative Kingdom are alienable and disposable. Parcels of land declared by the Basileus or the Synkletos as alienable and disposable may be purchased through the Ministry of the Interior, at such rates as the Ministry may provide, with proceeds to accrue to the General Fund of the Government. Parcels of land declared by the Strategos of a Thema declared as alienable and disposable may be purchased through the Local Authority, at such rates as the Local Authority may provide, with proceeds to accrue to the fund of the Thema."

Article 2, Section C of the law also provided that: "All declarations that certain parcels of land within the Free and Associative Kingdom are alienable and disposable shall be displayed to, and available for public perusal. Declarations may impose certain conditions on the use of the land." Accordingly, Article 1 of the law specified what private property was, and who was eligible to possess and negotiate the same:

Article 1 - Definition

Section A) 'Private property' is defined as real property and developments thereon belonging to a person and/or a corporation by the authority established in this Act

Section B) Any Constancian citizen or corporations majority of whose shares are owned by Constancians, shall be eligible to purchase, owning and selling any type of private real property.

To superintend this, Article 2, Section D of the law provided that: "There is hereby created a Land Registration Commission within the Ministry of the Interior, to be headed by a Commissioner of Constancian nationality, appointed for a three-year fixed term by the Minister of the Interior, who shall ensure the proper registration and delivery of real estate titles, as well as the implementation of this Act."

An important distinction was made, under Article 2, Section E of the law, that: "Previous official dispensations regarding real property within the Free and Associative Kingdom prior to the enactment of this Act are not affected by the enactment of this Act."

Previous official dispensations

Prior to the enactment of the Private Property Act 1657, the Colonies Act 1637, under Article 1, Section A, specified that, "The Overseas colonies of the Kingdom are: Molivadisan Theme, Nisian Theme, Krýon Theme."

Definitively influenced by economic interests, as evidenced by its swift passage only one year later, The Regulation of The Krýon Theme Act 1638 [4] specifically delineated, under Article 1, Section B, that, "The Local Authority is responsible for: Issuing residence permits; Issuing land permits; Issuing work permits; Collecting local taxes; Budgeting Krýon's finances; Providing rules and regulations on the civil, economic, cultural and geographic life of the people of Krýon under Constancian law and custom," in addition to Section C thereof, which reads, "Any further responsibility can be delegated to the Local Authority by the Mesazōn."

Primary sector

Agriculture and fishery

After the destruction and havoc wrought by the Second Euran War, compounded by the aftermath of a world war and the destabilising influences of global pandemics, such as the Alexandrian Flu and the White Plague, and the lingering ecological consequences of the nuclear self-immolation of Babkha in 1598, agriculture on the Euran continent had regressed to the point of collapse - with desertification, salination, and soil contamination, becoming perennial problems.

To stave off collapse, the Permanent Standing Committee (the de facto governing body of Constancia following the war), mandated a corvée of the rural populace in the provinces of Aqaba, Mitra, Nivardom, and Varaz. Rural households would henceforth be organised into communal groupings of ten households under an individual Kyrios ("headman"). These communes became known as the oikoi (singular: oikos) representing the fusion of families, households, and properties into a single collective entity where all forms of production and distribution were controlled directly. Control over production was ensured by the concentration of the means of production (land, tools, and equipment) in the hands of the Kyrios rather than of individual farmers or family members. The headmen were in turn supported by the establishment of a rural police force, the Agrofilaki

Each oikos was mandated to provide the state with one home guardsman and four corvée labourers, assessed and selected by provincial commissioners at annual annual conscription assemblies. Severe penalties and collective punishments, as well as individual material incentives for collaboration, were implemented to ensure that the manpower requirements of the state were met in full. For many the new requirements imposed by the state amounted to a sentence of indentured servitude.

As inhumane as this was, the Permanent Standing Committee deemed the repressive measures necessary so as to ward off societal collapse, the abandonment of the land, and the flight to already overcrowded cities such as Aqaba on the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba. The peasantry was required to be held in place to arrest, with their lives if need be, the encroachment of the desert onto what agricultural land remained, and to push back, to rebuild irrigation systems such as the fabled Babkhan Qanat network of subterranean channels linked back to the giant ancient aquifer beneath Mount Durranian, in what is today the monastic state of Eklesia, and to enclose new lands, scouring contaminated top soil, and bringing the wastes back into productive use.

After some considerable debate, the Permanent Standing Committee came to a consensus that while increases in agricultural yield over the long term would be vital for the prosperity and self-sufficiency of the nation, the immediate priority would be to enclose the land and to purify, stabilise and enrich the soil through the establishment of a network of walled gardens linked to the life-giving waters of the restored qanats. Whilst this work was undertaken, the years after 1670 would be lean ones for the farmers of mainland Eura, fed on a closely rationed diet of fish harvested from the jealously guarded waters of the Gulf of Aqaba, and bulk consignments of rice from Tapfer and the Micras Balkans purchased through SATCo and the Iron Company. Foodstuffs grown locally during this period consisted mostly of millet, which was itself requisitioned by the state and transported to Aqaba for mass fermentation into a millet-beer brewed by a numberless multitude of household producers in the refugee camps on the edge of the city. To this fermented mess is added an infusion of diluted Raspurid opium, typically of grades rejected for export to Shireroth, which creates a concoction known locally as Blood of the Bassarid, which is in turn sold in vast clay vats to the rural oikoi for distribution, especially to the Iteran helots assigned to the estates for whom the drink is both effectively a wage, a foodstuff, and a palliative for their condition.

Notable enterprises

Name	Owner	Activity
.	.	.

Gem-mining, trading, and retail

RubyGem

Uranium mining and trade

Urmin

Trade was, in accordance with national foreign policy, limited to Raspur Pact allies, Shireroth and its instrumentalities being the primary market and consumer.

Secondary sector

Textiles

As part of the division of labour, represented by the concentration of rural populations into the okoi communes, women's labour in such labour as cloth making, contributed greatly to the provincial economy. Homespun fabrics, while usually not cost competitive compared to industrially manufactured synthetic textiles, imported in bulk from Benacian and Tapferite markets, represented a revenue generating economic activity with fabric being accepted in lieu of cash payments for the purposes of domestic taxation.

Construction

Notable enterprises

Name	Owner	Activity
.	.	.

Mining

Notable enterprises

Name	Owner	Activity
.	.	.

Tertiary sector

Maritime industry

Notable enterprises

Name	Owner	Activity
.	.	.

Transportation

Notable enterprises

Name	Owner	Activity
.	.	.

Education

The preponderant survival of Raspurid foundational educational institutions, compared to their Constancian counterparts, is likely to have an impact in the longer term on the values and organisation of Euran society. An effort to redress this imbalance resulted in the creation of Foundation Schools, after the Modanese model, in late 1670.

Primary education

Name	Owner	Notes
Sarayzenana	Education & Indoctrination Service of Raspur	Est. 1664, Raspur Province, attends to the education of boys born to the Special Breeding Programme until the age of seven and of girls until the age of twelve.
Saraymardana	Education & Indoctrination Service of Raspur	Est. 1664, Raspur Province, attends to the education of those boys born to the Special Breeding Programme until the age of twelve.
Foundation Schools (Ídryma-Scholeío)	Ministry for Education	Est 1670, all non-Raspurid provinces, attends to the education of children between the ages of five and ten, imparting the rudiments of writing, numeracy, and loyalty and obedience to the Highest Divinity. Funded by a 4% poll tax.

Secondary education

Name	Owner	Notes
Dabirestân-e Andarûn	Education & Indoctrination Service of Raspur	Est. 1670, Raspur Province, attends to the education of boys born to the Special Breeding Programme between the ages of twelve and sixteen.
Dabirestân-e Pardanashin	Education & Indoctrination Service of Raspur	Est. 1670, Raspur Province, attends to the education of girls born to the Special Breeding Programme between the ages of twelve and sixteen.

Higher education

Name	Owner	Notes
Akadēmíā Hermetica	Patriarchal Orthodox Faith foundation	Hermetic and scriptural studies for scholars and initiates into the priesthood. Located beyond the walls of Cario, Aqaba Province.
Euran University	ESB Group foundation	Est. 1668, ESB Cantonment, Aqaba, Aqaba Province.
House of the Learned	ESB-GSC-ICAF joint foundation	Restricted Access Area, Nivardom Province
Akadimía Anthropistikón Epistimón	Ministry of Education	Est. 1670, Astérapolis, specialises in the humanities and social sciences
Akadimía Euranikón Klironomiás	Ministry of Education	Est. 1670, Astérapolis, specialises in the study and preservation of Eurani culture and artefacts, especially pertaining to the Babkhan era. Includes an industrial archaeology department.

Infrastructure

A survey conducted by General Service Corps commissary agent Kalkul Sahib in early spring 1670 recorded observable items of infrastructure, variously in public or aligned corporate ownership, that had remained intact and operable following the Second Euran War.

• Aqaba - temple, market place, city walls, aqueduct, Ziggurat, stadium, factory, harbour, port facility, airport
  • ESB Cantonment - temple, market place, library, city walls, bank, Ziggurat, university, stadium, harbour
• Arak - temple, market place, city walls, library, Ziggurat, stadium, factory, harbour, port facility, airport
• Astérapolis - palace, temple, market place, library, city walls aqueduct, Ziggurat, stadium, sewer system, academies (x2), stock exchange
• Badehshahr - temple, market place, library, city walls, Ziggurat, harbour
• Bandar-e Saghi - temple, marketplace, library, court house, city walls (partially constructed), Ziggurat (partially constructed), harbour
• Cario - temple, market place, library, city walls, stadium, harbour, airport, port facility, academy
• Ithonion - city walls, Ziggurat, harbour, airport, port facility
• Mehrshahr - courthouse, aqueduct, Ziggurat, stadium, harbour, lighthouse, grand library
• Nissus - city walls, Ziggurat
• Nivardom - city walls, Ziggurat, harbour (famine), airport (major hub for flights to and from Wechua Nation), Wechu Quarter (a section of the city that houses the Wechu diaspora and government-in-exile bldgs, which later became a Wechu Consulate in Constancia)
  • Trans-Euran Cantonment - marketplace, library, city walls, SAM missile battery (sans missiles), airport, police station
• Níso Aigón - city walls, Ziggurat (ex-Babkhan MilZig, ruined), harbour
• Raspur - court house, city walls, bank, stock exchange, airport, Upper and Lower Ziggurats, supermarket
• Shâhibâgh - courthouse, city walls, Ziggurat, harbour
• Aqaba Province - walls, harbour
• Mitra Province - walls (under construction)
• Nivardom Province - walls
• Varaz Province - marketplace, walls (under construction)
• Zylenisí -

These records were subsequently periodically updated thereafter as the Five Year Plan progressed and as new territories and settlements came under Constancian rule.

Fiscal situation

Financial Year	GDP (Imp. Staters)
1655	C$4,712,138,977,578,900.00
1669	C$1,258,822,193,055,278.25
1670	C$932,981,142,927,412.00

Assets	Special Reserve Staters
Bullion / Currency Reserves (1653)	SR$40,506,979,955.68
Bullion / Currency Reserves (1670)	SR$17,231,974,546.04
Special Gold Reserve (1670)	SR$33,135,302,017.40

1670

Ethnocultural Category	Population	GDP per Capita	GDP
Constancian (Urban)	2,721,358	C$96,415,397.40	C$262,380,813,037,669.00
Constancian (Rural)	7,138,290	C$13,473,600.00	C$96,178,464,144,000.00
Raspurid (Citizen)	1,200,827	C$146,981,397.15	C$176,499,230,195,443.00
Raspurid (Subject)	2,773,793	C$31,510,960.95	C$87,404,882,906,383.30
Iteran (Helot)	1,959,121	C$6,989,430.00	C$13,693,139,091,030.00
Total	15,793,389	C$59,074,157.10	C$932,981,142,927,412.00

'	'
Amicable Grants:	C$5,718,335,093,445.45
Fees, Tariffs, Customs:	C$52,997,765,453,685.20
General Taxation	C$314,705,548,263,714.00
Govt Expenditure:	C$5,187,767,919,826.80
Contribution to Trans-Euran Command:	C$472,129,979,284,555.00
Net Revenue:	-C$103,896,098,393,537.00
Bullion / Currency Reserves:	SR$17,231,974,546.04

Trade and investment

Exchange rates

1670

• 1 Imperial Stater = 0.0016 Shirerithian Erb
• 1 Shirerithian Erb = 642.56 Imperial Stater

• 1 Imperial Stater = 0.00020 Natopian Natopo
• 1 Natopian Natopo = 4,911.04 Imperial Stater

• 1 Imperial Stater = 0.000018 Craitish Cräite
• 1 Craitish Cräite = 55,687.65 Imperial Stater

• 1 Imperial Stater = 0.000064 Liberadosan Cruz
• 1 Liberadosan Cruz = 15,578.58 Imperial Stater