Economics

"'Businessmen are the one group that distinguishes capitalism and the American way of life from the totalitarian statism that is swallowing the rest of the world. All the other social groups — workers, farmers, professional men, scientists, soldiers — exist under dictatorships, even though they exist in chains, in terror, in misery, and in progressive self-destruction. But there is no such group as businessmen under a dictatorship. Their place is taken by armed thugs: by bureaucrats and commissars. Businessmen are the symbol of a free society ' --Ayn Rand"

Economics
Drifter society is fueled by a vibrant private-property predominantly capitalist economy which produces numerous trade goods and services in Drifter Hubs as well as on numerous worlds.. Goods which are not produced are imported from nondrifter civilizations. In ancient times, Drifters carried merchandise on foot and by horseback. Today, while many Drifter-merchants begin their enterprising this way (motorbikes have replaced horses and mules as beasts of burden)

Currency
Gold coins, the former dominant medium of exchange, has been replaced in the last 20 years by a high-technology quantum-computing based virtual currency called Driftcoins. The approximate value of 1 Driftcoin is $1 USD, but of course prices for various goods vary and many goods (due to scarcity or abundance) are priced significantly differently from equivalent items on Earth.