Hiver Economy

The Hiver economy has been described as "an economist's nightmare" and "capitalistic communism" by human writers.

• It is very difficult for non-Federation members to understand, though it seems to work admirably for them.

Description (Specifications)

Basically, Hivers have a strong desire for material comforts, and, hence, the wealth that makes these possible. But they rely on a system of credit in which the individual has a positive or negative credit balance with its particular nest. When an individual changes nests, the new nest acquires the individual's credit balance, either paying to, or being paid by, the previous nest. In the interim, individuals can draw on the nest's accounts for virtually any amount, whether for simple necessities such as food and shelter, or for large material items.

Just how this credit system is regulated is a matter of some uncertainty to humans; it seems to be largely a combination of honor and ambition on the part of the individual Hiver nestmember which limits unrestrained tapping of resources. Because the Hiver knows he will probably be moving onto another nest, and he also wants to enjoy a certain degree of stability and comfort, Hivers seem to regulate their own desire to tap a nest's resources so as to end their service with a particular nest with a positive credit balance; they earn credit according to the quality and quantity of work performed, just as humans earn money.

Thus, a Hiver may require large amounts of expensive equipment for a particular task or project, which the nest provides; at the end of the task, the Hiver returns the equipment, and the value of the returned items (less a "depreciation allowance" of 5%) is used to offset the amount originally charged to the Hiver's account with the nest. The balance is made up out of the value of the individual's labor. This system is vastly oversimplified in this description, but in essence conforms to these lines.

History & Background (Dossier)

No information yet available.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Classic Traveller Alien Module 7 - Hivers
• GURPS Traveller Alien Races 3 (Hivers and Droyne)
• TNE Aliens of the Rim
• Internal Link: Serious exobiology:How Hivers could have evolved