Economic foundations of permanent pioneer communities

Although pioneer settlements are often founded for political or ideological reasons distinct from short-term economic justifications, their survival and growth depend on economic factors. The settlers must be able to make a living, whether at subsistence, commercial farming, fishing, mining, manufacturing, trade, or in government service. Although most of this discussion is highly speculative, it does seem from the historical material that there are plausible ways in which an evolutionary lunar program could lead, step by step, to settlement. Once a lunar facility has achieved basic self-sufficiencies in the production of oxygen, food, and construction materials, crew rotation would become a dominant cost factor in continuing lunar operations. At such a point, establishment of a resident staff begins to make economic sense. Subsequent encouragement of private-sector economic activities through such mechanisms as resident bonuses, local purchase preferences, and transfer of responsibility of basic services and production capabilities might well reduce operating costs and significantly multiply the economic effects of the basic import capacity provided by the facility's local expenditures