Aquinas wrote:I am pleased by Malivia's upgrade to a Middle power militarily/politically, as I was hoping that status would be achieved sooner or later.
The economic rankings are somewhat confused by the fact we now have differential population numbers for each nation, instead of almost every nation having about 100 million people, as had been the case previously. This means the current definitions in the economic power ranking become problematic, as they take in to account how economically developed a country is, but not the size of its economy. For reference, I quote the definitions below, which are drawn from the OP of this thread:Economic Power Ranking
Underdeveloped: These countries are the Third World nations of Terra, whose colonial regimes abused them in order to profit in days gone by. They have often been intentionally undeveloped or developed in such a way as to divide the people therein for the benefit of the metropole. They struggle to provide even basic healthcare or education to their people, and they are highly reliant on international aid and charity. These nations do benefit from the continued focus on the extraction economy, and they often can sell their goods at lower prices than most more developed nations on the international market.
Weak: These countries have economies typically centered around the agricultural or extraction sectors. Though some manufacturing might exist, if it exists on any large scale it is likely to be internationally owned and thus unprofitable for the host nation. Locals might have set up subsistence economies that emphasize manufacturing in the household (cottage industries) to compensate for the lack. Generally, the people of these countries have poor education and health relative to more developed nations. The family unit and the community in these nations are likely to be very important to everyday life, and people are likely to feel much less alienated than in the more automated and high-paced medium and high development nations. Pollution is largely a result of agricultural and extraction byproducts, and these are typically water pollutants. These nations are very often net exporters, but the goods they export may not get them too much in return.
Average: These countries have economies centered most heavily on manufacturing or extraction-based industries, but they might also have some clusters of post-industrial industries along side some agricultural industry. These countries have lower life expectancy, less education, and less income (primarily GDP per capita) than high development nations, but they can also generally boast higher employment than the increasingly automated high development nations, a more citizenry more generally engaged in the political sphere than in the more alienated high development nations, etc. These nations likely are more likely to be heavy polluters than many other nations. Though they are generally less active on international markets than high development nations, their economies often center around export and so trade is relatively important.
Strong and Very Strong: These countries have economies typically centered around services and high tech industries. Culture and political goals can influence what types of industries are most influential, e.g. the agricultural or manufacturing sectors are still important for certain real-world high development economies, but these industries should be secondary and perhaps being phased out. More and higher quality education and health opportunities exist. These countries tend to have higher GDP per capita and median incomes, although inequality may still persist. These countries typically have higher standards of living, but can also experience the consequences of such an economy, such as increased alienation, higher unemployment as automation increases, the decreased importance of the family unit, etc. These countries tend to be active in international markets, but don't necessarily always experience trade surpluses.
Hyperpower: Only one nation on terra could possibly become a hyperpower. Being a hyperpower means you have the largest economy on Terra and have an economy that affects others when it does good or bad. A hyperpower economy is however highly vulnerable in times of crisis and has the problem of possibly overburdening itself. A hyperpower economy is also mostly focussed on the services and tech sector and is most of the time highly dependent on food and industrial imports from other countries. The currency of a hyperpower is generally considered to be the standard exchange currency globally. Reaching this status is extremely hard and only possible after prolonged, detailed economic RP.
Malivia, I notice, has been upgraded from a "Weak" economic power to an "Average" one. My initial reaction to that was surprise, since I have clearly RPed Malivia as being a country with significant "Third World"/"developing world" elements. It has more advanced elements as well, and there are some wealthier classes of people...but nonetheless, the average income and general standard of living in Malivia, at least in my conception, is low.
Perhaps it would be possible to justify Malivia being an "Average" economic power on the basis that although its people are generally poor, it does have a large population (second only to Indrala, I think). It is not easy to calculate whether the large population would be enough to do this, though. For this reason, I believe it would be better if the economic rankings consisted of two parts, one for average income per person, and another for economy size/"economic power" (calculated by multiplying the population by the average income per person). We did this for Terra Nations, and I present the spreadsheet for reference here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... A2/pubhtml
I am not massively bothered whether Malivia's economy is ranked as "Weak" or "Average", but what I am hoping for is an an assurance from Moderation that under whichever ranking Malivia is given, there is a recognition this is a country with deep problems relating to poverty and underdevelopment.
My ideal preference would be that Malivia should have an even bigger population than it does currently, and have an economy which is "Average" or even "Strong" in terms of size of the economy, but where the country is still essentially very poor/undeveloped. However, if staying at "Weak" would be a better option in terms of ensuring my current RP does not run in to problems, then I would prefer that.
Vesica and I's justification for ranking up Malivia was based on your RP and despite the glaring issues with the country, we believe that the presence of a stable government combined with the massive population you have would've prompted some form of economic growth, even if not in the lower strata of the economy.
Dorvik | 
Zardugal | 
Ostland (FBC)
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