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I invite your speculations: How could an interstellar economy work? Assume FTL travel is possible, but not instantaneous.
(Given that our own economies seem, from my point of view, to work on a principle of not being examined too closely, feel free to propose outrageous possibilities.)
EDIT: To answer questions, mostly about the parameters of FTL...
FTL does not rely on a constructed infrastructure, but does rely on naturally occurring, unevenly distibuted features of space-time.
The economy is the several-kinds-meeting type.
FTL has more in common with a train than a hand-pushed cart, but sailing ships are a better analogy.
Travel is expensive, but not ludicrously so - think sun holidays now; you can't do it all the time, but once a year is ordinary. More importantly, it requires a skilled pilot. Certain routes have size limitations on traffic. Space tourism is definitely a happening thing.
Travel time is about one to four hours to a neighbouring star system at the very best (local conditions may increase that greatly, but never reduce it below a theoretical optimum) and about a year and a half to cross human-occupied space one way. [Actual numbers subject to change, but about that feel.]
(Given that our own economies seem, from my point of view, to work on a principle of not being examined too closely, feel free to propose outrageous possibilities.)
EDIT: To answer questions, mostly about the parameters of FTL...
FTL does not rely on a constructed infrastructure, but does rely on naturally occurring, unevenly distibuted features of space-time.
The economy is the several-kinds-meeting type.
FTL has more in common with a train than a hand-pushed cart, but sailing ships are a better analogy.
Travel is expensive, but not ludicrously so - think sun holidays now; you can't do it all the time, but once a year is ordinary. More importantly, it requires a skilled pilot. Certain routes have size limitations on traffic. Space tourism is definitely a happening thing.
Travel time is about one to four hours to a neighbouring star system at the very best (local conditions may increase that greatly, but never reduce it below a theoretical optimum) and about a year and a half to cross human-occupied space one way. [Actual numbers subject to change, but about that feel.]
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As far as exchange goes, I've been reading a little too much on primitive economics lately, so you're getting a detailed answer. I don't think you'd have a truly free-market economy between planets, for all that individual planets themselves may be dominated by market economies. Some of them would be characterised by "mobilisation" economies, like the former Soviet Union, where resources would be collected into the hands of a chosen few in order to further the ideological goals of the collective. I imagine Vulcans would go for that option.
Even with incompatible standards of currency (silver in one area, and salt in another, e.g.) you'd probably have "administered trade", whereby two governments agree to exchange fixed quantities of commodities at a fixed rate by agreement. Trade then isn't subject to regular demand-market price fluctuations, but I imagine this is the sort of thing OPEC does in our world. I imagine that trade federations and other multi-national/multi-planetary blocs would emerge to protect such interests.
In "frontier" economies, especially those supported by administered trade, the parties involved will most often prefer politically neutral trading grounds upon which to make their transactions. You may end up with large neutral zones, then, dedicated particularly to trade. The transport companies may become large NGOs, then, kind of like McCaffrey's FT&T remains politically neutral but still connected.
Mining, btw, is probably going to be one of the biggest physical interstellar industries.
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Just kidding, love.
Bigger post coming based off that exact concept, for reference. ;)