Federation credit

The Federation Credit is inferred to be the basic monetary unit of the United Federation of Planets in the fictional Star Trek series, although the term has rarely been used on-screen and is thus considered non-canon. For the first 20 years of Star Trek, from 1965 until 1985, there was no indication that money was outmoded. The Original Series sometimes referenced the cost of services or objects in "credits".

It has been said in episodes like the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Neutral Zone" and movies like Star Trek: First Contact that the economy of the Federation is quite unlike the economics of the 20th and 21st centuries - almost unrecognizably so. It is a socialist post scarcity society: There is no poverty and no hunger, and the accumulation of wealth is not a driving force in society. According to Tom Paris in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Dark Frontier", a "New World Economy" began to take hold on Earth and throughout the Federation in the late 22nd century, and eventually made money obsolete. He even mentions that in the 24th century, Fort Knox is a museum, apparently to money and capitalism.

In the United Federation of Planets, Replicators and other advanced technologies provide for virtually all basic material wants and needs equally and sufficiently to all. Every citizen of the Federation has plenty of food of virtually any type they want, clothes, shelter, recreational and luxury items, and has all their basic material needs easily met. A society based around self-improvement and collectively improving the human race instead of cutthroat competition, combined with heavy automation, means labor is essentially free, menial tasks are automated, and goods are made freely available to all citizens due to superabundance. As seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes featuring Jake and Joseph Sisko, people are apparently not paid in credits for their work.

Roles of currency

When forms of currency are mentioned, it is in one of two capacities:

• A means of internal budget allocation in the United Federation of Planets, such as in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Errand of Mercy". While it has almost unlimited resources, they have been shown to be finite (such as having limited numbers of starships), and thus some method of allocating Federation and Starfleet resources must be used.

• A way for Federation citizens to barter for objects that cannot be replicated, such as live animals, such as in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", or for services that are far too costly to be given away freely, such as hiring the services of an entire starship (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock), or for the use of facilities (such as public transporters) that are in high demand and must have a method of rationing their access, such as in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Explorers".

Furthermore, the Federation credit does not appear to serve the role of capital as money does in a capitalist economy: production is not based on the accumulation of capital for reinvestment of production; instead production is undertaken to satisfy human needs, and the Federation credit is likely more akin to a Labour voucher - a means for distributing / rationing goods for individual consumption. Alternatively, the credit may serve as a means of quantifying energy.

It is unclear how citizens gain credits, since they are not paid directly for their work in credits. As there is no poverty, there is likely a highly egalitarian and fair method of distributing the wealth (output capacity) of the United Federation of Planets to its citizens, such as a basic income guarantee or social dividend.

Controversy of the Credit

The Federation Credit has been a subject of controversy among fans and, at first glance, seemingly conflicting accounts in the source material.

For the first 20 years of Star Trek, from 1965 until 1985, there was no indication that money was outmoded. The Original Series sometimes referenced the cost of services or objects in "credits". Earth society itself was never shown, but it was mentioned and implied to be peaceful and idyllic. Although some argue that Earth has peacefully achieved world communism as imagined in Marxist philosophy, in his writings at the time, Gene Roddenberry said he intentionally avoided talking about the political, social and economic structures of Earth, simply implying that it was far more advanced than the modern day.

The first mention of the Federation not having money in the modern sense was in 1986, in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Kirk expresses frustration at the use of money on 1986 Earth. However, he merely mentioned that money is still being used, which could be a reference to a physical currency, rather than the virtual "credit" currency of the Federation at that time.

Then, in early 1988 in "The Neutral Zone", the last episode of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard explains to a banker from the 20th century that economics are quite different and the pursuit of money is no longer a part of human existence, however earlier in that season in "Encounter at Farpoint", Beverly Crusher purchased a bolt of fabric, while asking for it to be billed to her account on the USS Enterprise. This would appear to suggest that Federation citizens (and the Federation government) use money for transactions with "outsiders" (non-Federation citizens), but not amongst themselves. Indeed, while money is shown to be used in interactions with non-Federation species, it is not shown to be used among inhabitants of the Federation. In this way, there is no contradiction, and the apparent parodox is easily resolved.

Later in TNG, and especially in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it was repeatedly stated that the Federation did not use money, and that the pursuit of money was generally abhorrent to humans, especially as a counterpoint to the highly capitalist Ferengi (although the Federation citizens on Deep Space Nine did purchase drinks and merchandise from Ferengi, and were no stranger to obtaining and using money, even if they didn't explicitly need any). In Star Trek: Voyager, the episode "Dark Frontier" has Tom Paris explaining that money began to fade from use when the "New World Economy" arose in the late 22nd century (notably after the 2161 founding date of the Federation), meaning even by later explanations, money was in use in the early history of the Federation. In Star Trek: Enterprise, set in the 2150s, the issue was never brought up directly, however in the episode "These Are the Voyages..." (the series finale) the holographic Charles 'Trip' Tucker does mention money, in reference to types of trust, however this may have just been an example he made to make his point understandable, and not proof of the economics of the time.

Perhaps most famously, Captain Jean-Luc Picard states in the film Star Trek: First Contact that

"The economics of the future is somewhat different. You see, money doesn't exist in the 24th century. The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity."

This was echoed almost word for word by Jake Sisko in the DS9 episode "In the Cards", in an exchange with the Ferengi Nog:

Jake: "I'm Human, I don't have any money."

Nog: "It's not my fault that your species decided to abandon currency-based economics in favor of some philosophy of self-enhancement."

Jake: "Hey, watch it. There's nothing wrong with our philosophy. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity."

Nog: "What does that mean?"

Jake: "It means we don't need money!"

It appears therefore that money ceased to be used within the Federation at some point prior to the 24th century (TNG). The concept of a moneyless society, in which each person contributes freely and willingly to the good of the whole, is not unique to Star Trek, and is a theme developed in Utopian socialist theory and writings - such as William Morris' News From Nowhere, published in 1890 in the United Kingdom. The economics of the Federation may be compared closely with Utopian philosophy and literature.

However, episodes such as "The Gift", where Janeway relates how she and Tuvok purchased a meditation lamp from a Vulcan, who ups the price upon seeing their Starfleet uniforms, paint a different picture:

KES: Come in, Captain.

JANEWAY: You wanted to see me. Ah, Tuvok's meditation lamp. I was with him when he got it six years ago from a Vulcan master, at double the price when he saw our Starfleet insignias.

So Vulcans, even apparently Kolinar masters use money. Vulcan also interestingly enough has a merchant fleet as seen on a readout display in "Unification, Part 1". Thus a vide variety of interstellar commerce takes place, which in turn suggests money or a means of barter. The Bolians, who are also Federation members, still use money, as Bolias had a bank that was used by many interstellar nations for a wide variety of transactions (DS9: "Honor Among Thieves"). Among those users were the Ferengi. The dialog from "In the Cards" is also species-specific. Neither Nog nor Jake say that the Federation as a whole doesn't use money, just Humans. Thus Vulcans and the Federation in general may use some form of currency, the credit in this case, but Humanity has chosen an economy that foregoes its use in its own sovereign societal day-to-day use.

Furthermore, in TNG's "Conspiracy", we have evidence that large-scale companies are still in place as stated in this dialog (these could be state owned, not-for-profit companies, however):

PICARD: Data, are you familiar with Dytallix B?

DATA: Dytallix B is one of seven uninhabited planets mined for the Federation by the Dytallix Mining Company. It is in the nearby Mira system.

Then there are humans, like Harry Mudd, Cyrano Jones, Kasidy Yates, and Vash who go about the galaxy and the Federation buying, selling, transporting cargo in typical free-trade, capitalistic fashion. And yet no one blinks an eye at that, except when those people do something that is ethically or legally questionable or obviously dangerous to others.

Other commerce and the ability to buy are perfectly normal as this dialog from the end of "We'll Always Have Paris" shows:

PICARD: Then set course for Sarona Eight. As I remember we were on our way for some much needed shore leave.

LAFORGE: Course set and laid in, sir.

PICARD: Warp five. Engage.

RIKER: I've only been there once, but they've got this great club. I don't remember the name of it. They serve these blue concoctions

TROI: It's across the square from the Zanza Men's Dance Palace.

PICARD: It's called the Blue Parrot Cafe, (to Troi) and you're buying.

Picard might only be joking, but the possibility remains that they really are going to spend some money there, and Picard is really expecting Troi to pick up the tab.

Then there is TNG's "Captain's Holiday" where we learn that Vash had to spend money to get there via a transport vessel of some kind. Since Riza is in the Federation, and if the Federation had no money, it seems peculiar that Vash would need money to buy her way there.

So by this evidence one can easily conclude that money still used within the Federation, and it seems that some individual member worlds still make use of their own currencies.

The Federation Credit in non-canon works

The Federation Credit appears in many alternate canons and non-canon but licensed works about Star Trek, generally basing their reference off of the appearances of the Federation Credit in the Original Series, and reinforced by their occasional reference in later works.

In the Star Trek RPG made by FASA from 1982 to 1989, it presented the Federation Credit in a method quite similar to modern currency, including pay rates for Starfleet members. Since the most of the products of this Star Trek book line were established before the apparent retcon of the Federation not using money in the modern sense was established, this was done in good faith to be consistent with Star Trek as they knew it at the time.

The Star Trek RPG made by Last Unicorn Games in 1998 through 2000 used the Federation Credit in it, as well as other units of currency mentioned in Star Trek canon, such as gold-pressed latinum, the Bajoran Lita, and the Klingon Darsek. In accord with the ideas put forth later in TNG and in DS9, money was heavily de-emphasized (especially for Federation characters), and it is explained that Federation Credits are only used for purchasing luxury goods which could not be replicated or for special services, since Federation Citizens don't need money to live.

In the Prime Directive game set in the Star Fleet Universe alternate universe of Star Trek, the Federation credit is the basic monetary unit of the Federation, and is used in a method highly like modern currencies.

The Federation Credit also appears quite frequently in licensed, but non-canon, Star Trek novels, especially when the main characters are no longer a part of Starfleet and must tend with life beyond the core worlds of the Federation, such as "The Lost Years" by J.M. Dillard where Leonard McCoy, having recently quit Starfleet (set circa 2270, during the gap between TOS and Star Trek: The Motion Picture), is stranded on a distant planet and attempts to radio the Federation from help and to warn them about a crisis that is emerging, only to find that interstellar communications are difficult and very expensive for civilians, or in "Prime Directive" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens where Hikaru Sulu, and Pavel Chekov, recently dishonorably discharged from Starfleet and publicly disgraced, can only find work with the Orion Syndicate to raise money to be able to clear their names, for which they are paid in Federation Credits.

The Starship Designer games used the credit as a ration of available resources, as mentioned in the discussion on the nature of credits. Ships, their components, and their crew would cost the player character admiral a number of credits, based on their quality--a faster engine would cost more than a slower one.

See also

• Credits (science fiction)
• Electronic money
• Post-capitalism
• Post scarcity