Originally posted by Fritz88:
Don't forget that even after the American Civil War, there was non-federally produced money - called company scrip. If you worked in, say, a mine, you got paid in company scrip. The company scrip was only good in the company stores and to pay the rent and bills for your company house. Unlike some of the other scenarios mentioned here, it had absolutely no value outside the company town. (It was one of the factors driving unionization of mine workers.)
"Cause I own my soul to the company store..."
See Grapes of Wrath for another version.
But as far as money goes, somethink like the "Dutch and EastGerman Market" might exist. Let's assume Imperial Credits (That according to Challenge exist as rather thick plastic notes/coins) is official currency on Starports and imperial Territory only. Now you get three situations:
+ Some planets (I assume the very small and the very big) simply adopt ImpCred as their currency
+ Some have such a lousy exchange rate and/or worthless money that ImpCred is the unofficial currency. Anything worth having or needed quick, any luxuries must be paid with it, likely in Imperial-run markets (The east german model)
+ Some have a solid economy and their money is worth (almost) as much as the ImpCred. Their traders will actually accept ImpCred on a 1:1 base, giving back change in local currency. This was common in the Netherlands pre Euro.
Some planets will leave the money exchange to banks and even allow locals to own/exchange foreign money (i.e German hotels did/do accept US-Dollar) some will restrict it to state owned institutions and produce a well-working black market even for Tourists (i.e Bulgaria in the 1970s) some will force an exchange of X ImpCreds per day (East German model)
Oh and for the IRL exchange rates (called Margins / Margen):
You have more than one set per currency IRL. This is most common for precious metal (Each of the gold bars ranging from a few gram to a kilo has it's own set) but also happens to currencies.
One is always the "Ask(Sell)" Margin. This is what you want from the customer to sell foreign currency and is slightly higher than the margin on the money market.
The second is the "Bid(Buy)" Margin. This you offer when you buy foreign currencies from a customer. It is always lower than the margin on the money market.
The margins vary either by amount of money (If the customer exchanges more he get's better margins) or by value of the notes (due to rareness/rareness of trades of the bigger ones)
Even currencies that are not freely traded had an "estimated value" in the money market feeds, useful for Im/Export traders in evaluating money.