Though a new Star Wars film is just around the corner, Professor Zachary Feinstein from the Washington University in St. Louis is still busy dissecting elements from the original trilogy.
The academic recently published a study called "It's a Trap: Emperor Palpatine's Poison Pill," a project that attempts to model the economy of Star Wars' fictional universe and illustrate how the creation - and subsequent destruction of the two 'Death Star' superweapons in the original trilogy drove the Empire's banking system to the point of collapse.
"In this paper we study the financial repercussions of the destruction of two fully armed and operational moon-sized battle stations ("Death Stars") in a 4-year period and the dissolution of the galactic government in Star Wars," reads the abstract of Feinstein's paper.
According to his calculations, the first Death Star set the Empire back $193 quintillion, while the second cost $419 quintillion. A manageable figure when the $4.6 sextillion Galactic Economy is factored in.
He concludes that the galactic economy would crumble; barring a bail-out from the rebel aligned planetary systems.
"In the movies, both Death Stars are destroyed within a four-year time span, which would have been a staggering economic blow to the Imperial financial sector. To prevent a total financial collapse would require a bailout of at least 15 percent, and likely greater than 20 percent, of the entire economy's resources." Reads this breakdown of the piece.
"The outlook appears very grim for the common Imperial citizen," Says Feinstein, "I think it is unlikely the Rebel Alliance could have found the political will and financial resources to provide the necessary banking bailout until it is too late.
Though this isn't part of official Star Wars canon, it certainly presents a plausible scenario of how the Empire fell, and sets the stage perfectly for the renewed conflict in The Force Awakens.
