ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Palace economy

Palace economy is when there is a kingdom ruled by a king or queen who has a big fancy palace. Inside the palace, there are lots of important people who work for the king or queen. These people do things like keep track of how much food and supplies there are, and make sure that everything is running smoothly.

The king or queen is in charge of everything in the kingdom, so they need to know what is going on at all times. To do this, they have people called scribes who write everything down. They keep track of how much food the farmers are growing, how much gold and silver is being mined, and how much trade is happening between the kingdom and other nearby kingdoms.

If the king or queen needs more food or supplies, they can use their power to take it from the farmers or other people in the kingdom. This is called taxation. The same thing happens with the gold and silver that is mined. The king or queen takes a part of it to fund their palace and other expenses.

This system is called a palace economy because everything is controlled by the people in the palace. The king or queen has a lot of power, and they use it to make sure that the kingdom is prosperous and that they have everything they need. However, this can also lead to problems if the king or queen is not fair or if the people in the kingdom are unhappy with the way things are being done.
Related topics others have asked about: