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I'm writing fanfiction for the superhero serial novel Worm. The main setting in Worm is Brockton Bay, a failing city of about 300,000 people. The economy has been in decline since the decline of shipping through Brockton Bay. I assume manufacturing has also fallen as well. The people of Brockton Bay are largely poor, and superpowered gangs are in control of large sections of the city. (A side note for manufacturing: Japan in this story has been destroyed by a kaijuu, and China is a closed economy.)

The economy of Brockton Bay is not all bad, however. There is a section of the city that is fairly rich due to tourism. The city has the most superhumans per capital, and attracts people on that basis.

What economic problems are likely plaguing this fictional city? How would you solve them? I'm willing to put in work to worldbuild, but I'm only an amateur economist. I'm thinking of basing the economics of Brockton Bay on Detroit, but I'm willing to read up on other failing cities as well. Thanks for your help :)

Edit: A bit more detail on economic problems:

The justice system is corrupt. The two major gangs are White and Asian. The White gang is well-organised, the Asian gang not so. I imagine the White gang holding on to wealthy suburbs and charging protection fees.

The education system is likely failing, so a good segment of the population is illiterate.

Unemployment is high, which feeds into the gangs. Probably 20%? I'm basing this off of Detroit unemployment rates.

Due to Japan being devastated, and China becoming a closed economy, there are a lot Asian immigrants. Some are rich, some are poor. The poor Asians are used illegal as cheap labour to support unproductive manufacturers.

That's all I can think of right now. As for more specific questions, I'd ask: How would you develop infrastructure, when the city is broke? Which infrastructure do you prioritise? How would you fix the justice system? The education system? On which do you prioritise your energies?

How do you create more jobs? Do you use macro policies? Or targeted policies? Do you implicitly encourage illegal immigrant labour? Or regulate working conditions? How do you improve productivity?

FooBar
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user49357
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    You should ask at [Worldbuilding.se]. – curiousdannii Nov 19 '14 at 08:50
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    Yeah, but I'm really looking for in-depth economic analysis. I don't think most communities have that. Even a general analysis of Detroit or New Orleans or other dying cities would help :)

    Edit: I've taken a look at Worldbuilding. It looks helpful. Thanks for the tip!

     – user49357 Nov 19 '14 at 09:19
  • The answer to "What economic problems are likely plaguing this fictional city?" could be absolutely anything. Asking about the economic situation of real world cities is one thing, asking about fictional cities is another. – curiousdannii Nov 19 '14 at 09:21
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    Bad timing I'm afraid. Whilst I like this question on a slow day with a bit rewording; we currently having a meta debate as to what is in scope during the private beta phase. You'll be lucky if others don't end up shooting this one. – LateralFractal Nov 19 '14 at 09:25
  • At this point, I suggest asking the Worldbuilding stack anyway. It'll give you pointers of any specific subject matter clarification you want to ask on this economics stack later. – LateralFractal Nov 19 '14 at 09:27
  • Even if this wasn't off-topic, you haven't given anywhere near enough details. What are the economic and political policies of Brockton Bay? You've told us about Japan and China, but what other neighbouring economies are there? Where do the tourists come from? How do superhumans impact the economy? – curiousdannii Nov 19 '14 at 09:34
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    @LateralFractal Thanks for the support :) I've asked Worldbuilding already. – user49357 Nov 19 '14 at 10:08
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    @curiousdannii I have no idea, which is why I'm asking. If this question is off-topic, should I delete this topic and ask a more relevant one? Like on Detroit specifically? Which would give more details. – user49357 Nov 19 '14 at 10:10
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    This is kind of a terrible question for the site. And yet it's probably my favorite out of all the ones I've read so far... My favorite line: "I'm basing this off of Detroit"--I love how Detroit is the model for your post-Apocalyptic hell-scape. – Steve S Nov 19 '14 at 11:22
  • Right now this is offtopic, but this question can be reworded (the fiction aspects removed to the worldbuilding.se) while the economic aspects left on this site. Try phrasing the question in a way such that the fictional details are replaced by X, Y, Z, and discuss it as a toy model (a particular but restricted scenario with certain assumption). –  Nov 24 '14 at 09:48
  • Alright, I'll do that soon! – user49357 Nov 25 '14 at 12:19

1 Answers1

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Secure property rights are a prime determinant of long-term economic growth--without them your citizens will be underinvest and, ultimately, waste resources trying to protect the property they already have when they could be using it more productively (Think: Blood diamonds). That's basically the problem with a city where much of it is controlled by gangs...

By the way, tourism is the biggest driver of the economy?! Who would want to visit such a hell-hole?

Would a superpower qualify as human capital? You'd think that it would but, then again, it seems like hardly any superheroes ever apply their powers productively at work--I'm looking at you, Clark Kent! (Seriously, a newspaper reporter?! Talk about throwing your life away!).

Steve S
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  • I'm fairly sure the police don't want to involve themselves in superhuman gangs. They're corrupt anyway. The superheroes are severely outnumbered, and probably don't want to pick a fight unless they have to. How do you enforce property rights then? As for tourism, there is an implicit agreement not to use too much force against each other, otherwise the superheroes will hammer down on them full force. There is also implicit agreement not to touch the tourism areas. Superpowers are generally small scale. Potentially useful powers such as creating technology are limited by lack of replicability. – user49357 Nov 19 '14 at 10:39
  • @user49357: So are you basically imagining a Detroit-meets-Rio-de-Janeiro-type of city? – Steve S Nov 19 '14 at 11:24