Re: Immigration as opposed to colonization

>From: "Laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net>
>Reply-To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU

>More than one colony may be
>competing on the
> >same planet. (This can be both a force and a resistance.  Both
>governments
> >are going to want to pump bodies into their colony, and both
>are going to
> >try to hinder each other.)
>
>Not necessarily.  If you have a million people on the equivalent
>of Asia, and I have a million people on the equivalent of North
>America, it will be a long, long time before we start crowding
>each other.  Unless you discover the one lump of UltraRarium on
>the planet, I don't see why anyone would bother fighting.
>
>Caveat: they may "hinder" each other in ways that don't involve
>direct combat, e.g. sabotage.
>
>Caveat: they may just do it out of sheer cussedness, or for
>political factors not directly related to economics.
>

Oops. Again, your objection to my point arises from my failure the first

time to articulate that point clearly.	In this case, you read my cause
as 
an effect, and vice versa.  I meant that the homeworld powers will pump 
bodies into the colony because they're competing for the planet, NOT
that 
they're competing for the planet as a place to pump bodies.  In fact, I
had 
political, strategic, and sheer cussedness reasons in mind MYSELF as
reasons 
to oppose sharing a planet.  But from the point of view of the home
power 
(not necessarily of the colony, mind you), there is one significant
economic 
reason as well:

For a government or corporation sponsoring a colony, there are two main 
"Pulls".  One is a source of natural resources and raw materials, the
second 
is a market for goods.	Those same colonists who mine the SuperDuperium
for 
you are also going to buy manufactured goods from you, especially at the

beginning when their own manufacturing capabilities are few or nil.  
Eventually they will begin to make some things for themselves, but
they'll 
still be some of your biggest customers.

However, if there are two colonies on the same planet, from different
home 
nations on Earth,  They will possibly develop slightly different sets of

resources and light industry.  This means they will most likely have
things 
to offer each other, and begin trading with one another.  The more they
do 
this, the less they'll be reliant on you for these goods and services,
and 
the lower your profits from the colony.  As a corporation or government,

this is bad. Thus, you'll want to try to make sure your colony is the
only 
one on the planet.  The more isolated it is, the more dependant on you,
and 
the more money you make off of them.

Historically, this was one of the sources of friction between England
and 
the American Colonies.	As the Americans began to manufacture goods,
England 
made sure they did not compete with English goods, either in Eingland or

especially on the world market, by mandating that Americans could:
Import 
only FROM England; Export only TO England; Only ON English ships.

Brian Bilderback
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