Rapture Economy

* See also Existing_Businesses
* See also Types_of_businesses_City_could_have
* See also Industry_In_Rapture and Industries_For_New_Rapture
* See also Shops_and_Locations
* See also Game Economy ( New Rapture's Economy and Player involvement )
* See also Money In Rapture
* See also Rapture Agriculture and Raptures Food Supply
* See also Recycle_and_Repair
* See also Closing_Off_Rapture ( Self-Sufficiency )
* See also Transportation_Stuff
* See also Crash
* See also Rapture Poverty
* See also Gambling
* See also Stock Exchange
* See also Economics_of_Production ( How Real Things Work )
* See also Technologies and Automation in Rapture
* See also Rapture Society
* See also Advertisement_In_Rapture
* See also Construction
* See also Vending_Machines
* See also Era_Electronics - TVs_in_Rapture - Radio_In_Rapture
== "The Laws of Economics are Much Like the Laws of Physics - If You Ignore them YOU are Writing Fantasy" ==
 
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BioShock may have had Fantasy Advancements in Genetic Technology, but the rest of the game setting was supposed to be more realistic as to make it close to the way people lived on 'The Surface'.
Balance of Workers vs Employers in Rapture would reach its Equilibrium. There is no glut of unskilled workers from outside the City -- as happens on The Surface for any alleged a laissez-faire Economy. ( Simpleton Storytelling ... )
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Money Money Money Made Rapture Go Round :
Ryan was only something like 35 years old ( Born 1910 according to the Novel ) when he started to build Rapture (around 1945-46). To do THAT then, Ryan first had to have the Money ( at least be in the $100s of millions in wealth category, even with other big millionaire investors involved ). Likely, Ryan would have made his start in the late 1920s ( with the opportunities of the 1930s being less, but possible ), and with War Work in the 1940s adding additional growth. Was he like Howard Hughes, who already had a family fortune/business to start him off ( and a few years earlier ) ? The Novel story has he and his father escaping Russia, but they may have had some recoverable holdings/investments. Ryan's father may have accumulated some wealth in "The Roaring 20s", while Andrew Ryan was still a teenager. (( The MMORPG could definitely expand on the Ryan Family story ... ))
To actually build anything like Rapture ( even scaled down quite a bit from that ridiculous game-skyline-implied size ), Ryan probably would have to have been IN the construction industry to get 'inside' (expense cutting) knowledge/resources/knowhow/confidence to do a project that big.
He would have to convert/sell off much of his Surface industrial empire to get the funds needed - Something hard to cover up, and likely taking a sustained period of time ( to recover the majority of its worth ). The Post-War US expansion period would have been a good time to have that happen.
Example - The Rockefeller Center building complex ( 6+ million sq ft ) in NYC ate a huge chunk ( $250 million in 1930 money ) of that very wealthy family's financial assets ( making it a big gamble in the Depression Era ).
It is unlikely Ryan could quickly borrow any more than what his companies were worth, and having investors complicates hiding creative bookkeeping. Thus it would be wise to slowly sell off of his holdings, and possibly even growing his businesses in the boom of the late 1940s/early 1950s to pay for Rapture. The other big Rapture investors would probably do likewise.
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Paying the Cost - How was Rapture Even Paid For ? :
Ryan was supposed to be VERY rich ( multi-multi- millionaire in 1946 dollars ), but it is a bit much to pay for an expensive underwater city of 20000 people ( estimate from the Novel ) by himself. You are not likely to get a mortgage for it.
SO to be practical/more-plausible : Lets add in numerous other Very Rich people ( and even the general inhabitants paying something from the liquidation of their Surface World wealth/assets ) to amass enough money ( well into the Billions $$$ ). Some of those Rich people who would be terrified of a likely Atomic War future might even never come to Rapture, but 'paid in' as 'insurance'. ( This would also would mean that Ryan DID NOT own the whole city ).
Rapture Trade with The Surface ? Reality is : That most of Rapture's Major Tech Advancements simply don't/would not add up to any significant profits - When compared-to/competing-with 100000 X as much Surface World people's additional development resources - and THEIR customers base to pay for it.
I suppose later, a few technical developments/advancements could generate additional money - like ADAM in particular through the selling of 'miracle' Medical Therapies to some VERY Sick Rich People up on The Surface. That activity would have to be carefully handled with Ryan's increase in isolation and secrecy.
Rapture's Major Construction was probably well over by that time, but things do wear out, and structural shortcomings can require significant repairs and replacement ( which costs real world money, and requires materials from the outside ). So such potential incoming (Trade) Money would have its uses for sustaining Rapture to import/obtain critically needed materials.
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Realistic Economics - Not Exactly the BioShock Game Developers' Area of Expertise or Knowledge :
Rapture : "By populating a city with ambitious experts, opportunists, geniuses, and breakthrough artists, Ryan set up a top-heavy class system. Some Rapture of these citizens felt that essential jobs such as food processing, cleaning, and simple maintenance were beneath them."
Except that alot of these "essential jobs" are actually as said ESSENTIAL. Since these jobs need to get done ( they can only be 'neglected' so much ), someone WILL do them for more sufficient money. It is part of the balancing systems under Capitalism. The 'Toilet Scrubber' WILL get paid more, and WILL attract someone to do it ( as a job or to do a 'better' job ) - since there is no slavery or bonded servitude (like in Infinite BS). In Rapture, you cannot force people to do the work for low pay.
(( Way Things Work : Except conveniently story-wise by criminals like Fontaine. What he was shown to get away with was far Too Contrived ... Rather than have someone, after Fontaine's tyranny/coercion/abuse, knife him or blow his head off with a shotgun )).
In a technical place like Rapture, it rather may have been a case of Technology eliminating jobs ( the Mechanical Toilet Scrubber (MTS), where one 'operator' now does the work of dozens of manual laborers ). As mentioned in-game : Construction in Rapture largely ended and had put alot of the Workers 'out of work'. THAT was what in the given story lead to the earlier Economic Distress and a supposed market Crash ( which BTW, the city did 'weather' ). That kind of situation was 'nothing new' in The Surface World they came from --- And remember, THESE Rapture people were supposed to be the Go Getters, 'Innovators', etc ... , more likely to be willing to Retrain and Relearn and Reapply themselves to NEW jobs and opportunities. 
Instead, the gamewriters make believe Rapture is filled with parasite dross ready to leap at "Free" Handouts and to protest not being allowed to be Parasites. They suddenly buy into the Socialism which the people in Rapture were supposedly there to get away from. The majority of the people ( the ones who agreed with and supported Ryan and his philosophy ) are strangely never heard from in-game. We actually are just hearing the whining of a small minority, played up as if they were the majority. But then, you need an 'Atlas' for the plot, so that Presto-Chango he becomes some 'great rebel leader', vying with Ryan for Power and able to inspire ridiculously stupid Treason and Betrayal, WHEN he really would have been ignored or stepped upon by the populace. ( Still, a few malcontents can cause ALOT of destruction and death - especially in a potentially hazardous environment like Rapture's. )
I've said it before : All of what we get in the game is to facilitate Rapture being a contrived Shooter-Game type Fail-topia ( a setting for Mass-Slaughter by the Player - A shoot-em-up game with cardboard-cut-out 'enemies' ). When it comes to a realistic Economy interfering with 'Their Plot', Logic/Reason/Reality are not to intrude OR to be of any priority. (( Still, Rapture's portrayal was far superior to that of magic-based Columbia, and similarly overblown Burial at Sea Rapture ))
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Illogical Game Excuses - Writer-Assumed 'Worker' Lameness :
The whole Rapture Project would have been planned out better than implied - Ryan wasn't stupid. To prevent things like Supply Problems happening, he would have had a balanced mix of housing and sufficient resources from the start, before 'self sufficiency' could get working. There were years of time for adjustments/corrections ( via entrepreneurs ), while they still brought in more (most of the) the Population and additional resources from 'The Surface'. Such realistic adjustments seem to have been missing in the Story ( again it is really a "Shooter Game" ...). In realistic Business and Industry, you make allowances for Failures/Setbacks, which would be triply important in a place that was Planned from the Start to be where nobody was allowed leave.
"Free Market" has mechanisms within it to self-balance, which was largely ignored for the sake of the simplistic plot.
Over-emphasis in the story of People being 'put out on the street', and 'not enough low end housing'. Low end wages would NOT have been fixed ( it is not allowed in a Free Market ) so wages would go up with demand ( there was a definite demand for maintenance workers as per 'the Novel', and the Wales Brothers mention of 'leaking' of their design ). Apartment rents would likewise come down ( higher rent units would stand idle with NO income and still have maintenance expenses - Which would increase as conditions degraded over time ). Owners would eventually HAVE to offer lower Rents, or People like Sinclair would come in and undercut them. That would be true for higher skilled workers and professionals who would move in to occupy upscale accommodations as rents dropped.
Remember, The Plot/Lore put a big emphasis on 'Free Market', and Ryan would not have wanted to control Wages, as they are also part of a Free Market and Free Competition. Ryan would not allow Unions, as they are the same thing as price fixing/monopolies in commerce, and wages/salaries WILL adjust themselves anyway ( and remember there were years of time for this to happen by the time of the game ).
Would Ryan not encourage competing companies ??? ... Power companies, Transportation companies, Industries, Manufacturing, Security firms -- All possibly competing against him ( and he likewise would have to lower prices as his competitors did ). Most of the businesses in Rapture were small - the Population size simply can't support Big Business.
It is a misunderstanding to have "Ryan Industries" actually own most of Rapture's buildings ( thus supposedly controlling most rents ), or where some ( many ? ) were sold to ( or built by ) the many Rich People who came to Rapture with their life savings/fortunes ( Whom, even if they weren't businessmen, would still make investments for income ) ?? 'Surface' money was converted to 'Rapture Dollars' on arriving, and rich people understand controlling their own assets via ownership ( versus 'renting' when rents could be changed within such a place at any time, or Banks 'fold' Like they did in the then recent Great Depression - taking all deposits with them ). Low/non-existent taxes made ownership an even better prospect for them.
The same would go for other expenses like Electric Power, Heating and other utilities. Ryan would have encouraged others to build competing sources for everything. Those DIFFERENT owners would have to compete, which would allow corrections to Costs for worker living expenses. It is the Same for producing other consumer goods - which could adjust to more 'low-end' production, when the market called for it. There were likely many niches in such a small closed economy. Some might grow large new businesses ( where economy of scale might apply ) - as seen in in OUR World. Ryan would have actually have planned to invite people who would start businesses that would compete - to eliminate the problems of monopolies.
The Out-of-Work construction crews were said to be ( in the game story ) a major problem (thus Atlas fodder). But consider, they were winding-down building the City before most of the population had arrived ( long before the events of BS1 ). Their numbers ( a thousand at most ? ) would have been only a small part of the City's total population (20000 - 40000). No additional Workers ( having obsolete/unused skills ) would have been Brought into the population. Existing construction Workers would/could have been shifted over to manufacturing/maintenance jobs that the City required ( It would have been part of 'The Plan', and they would have vetted the personnel with that in mind, since no one was 'Allowed to Leave' Rapture once they got there ). Real Peoples Capabilities : It is insulting for Levine & Co to suggest so many people (THEN) were UNABLE to adjust to doing needed work/jobs - Maybe not understood by some of today's weak/inept/ignorant people who make games for a living. Not all the Construction would have been 'High Tech Skill', and general skills could be put to work in Rapture's expanding industries (farming for one), as well as many other jobs. It is unrealistic to assume that the 'Workers' could NOT have done other jobs.
People coming to Rapture would have brought along entire industrial/manufacturing plants/infrastructure/tools ( Starting them from scratch would be insane and likely impossible - There is just too much specialized machinery need in modern industry/business/crafting ). Many ordinary jobs of all kinds would have been required to support those operations ( another source of switch-over jobs for the 'Construction Crews', many of whom would have a wide range of skills themselves ). 
AND NOTE : Most of a decade went by for this adjustment to happen before the BS1 events.
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 "Not Made Here" - Best if Employed for Rapture's Story :
In OUR WORLD most Inexpensive Manufacturing is via MASS Manufacture - Not something you would see for many items 'Made in Rapture'. When things are NOT Mass Manufactured, their Costs and Prices increase significantly ( often by 5 or 10 times ). SO an awful LOT of the things you see in Rapture ( and Columbia also ) would have been made in the Surface World initially. ( Thus there would exist in Rapture many Repair Shops - For all those items which Rapture couldn't/wouldn't manufacture itself. )
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For most products made IN Rapture, it is done by Smaller companies (and process), with more crafting differences and hand labor (and expense). Even if much food is mass produced (one of the few 'assembly line' scaled businesses), there are also many smaller specialty operations.
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Something About An 'Isolated' Economy - Complications in Plausibility :
What we see as 'Cities' ( in the Real World ) are the endpoint/convergence for a large/huge/extensive flow of materials, goods and services - most from areas outside of the city itself. These flow in from other cities -- from the towns and rural hinterlands of the rest of the country ( and from further away countries across the World ). Likewise, huge amounts of goods produced in a City flow outwards to other areas - which lack the ability to cheaply mass-produce the goods themselves, or lack the local sources of the required materials.
Rapture ( a functioning Rapture, existing before the Game's scenes of ruin in BS1 ... ) being isolated ( still limited even BEFORE the ~1952 Isolation) cannot be anything like this economic pattern. City processing of a few available raw materials and manufacturing from it would be fairly meager. SO THEN : Where Do any other raw materials/processed materials/manufactured goods then come from ?
With the cutoff/isolation from The Surface world in ~1952, the inflow of many other materials would largely cease. Even before that time, the protected location secrecy made even modest shipments inefficient. The Smuggling would/could never amount to anything significant to supply a City of ~20000. The Importation of many Tools ( also manufactured by complex modern processes ) would likewise cease.
Rapture's Economy thus really cannot much be Run equivalent to a real city ? Then how DOES Rapture's economy operate and get ALL of what its people need Operating Economy - Rapture in the original BioShock was not to be the dim/lazy fantasy which was seen in Infinite BS ?? It could not really follow the pattern of a Surface City/Country, and have a massive inflow/outflow of goods, materials and services. Thus, we have to adjust how we think about Rapture's economy, and the supply processes which had to exist. 
First : The required Utilities : Water sources, Power, Heat, Air have already been explained ( Hephaestus ). But there are hundreds of other materials/technologies which a modern city-type living/lifestyle requires.
Raw Materials have to be largely supplied Local : 
* Mining : There is little mining potential on a near-extinct volcano mountain, and underwater mining is extremely inefficient, and might only be justified for the most critical materials ( and even then, most of those would be impossible/unavailable ).
** Mines are not likely to exist in a volcanic location ( like that which Rapture is built upon - A Sea_Mount ), and it is very unlikely for more than a few minerals to be produced from it. (( All those mined materials also themselves are unlikely to be effectively obtained within the required modern low cost - and thus have to be obtained from 'Surface' countries where the many sources are entire geographical regions away - usually at only few good viable locations )). Many dozens of different minerals and metals are used in modern technology. Rapture would need ALL of them to make the products available in the modern world. Materials like Rubber are likewise important, but Plastics were only beginning as a technology to substitute for them.
* Farms, both interior and exterior ( in the adjacent Ocean ), would have to provide the largest mass/bulk for basic continuous consumption done by the population - Food being the largest bulk product, makes it the item most impacted by the City's isolation and the impediments to mass transportation from the Rest of the World. 
** Externally, some food can come from the Sea in Rapture's proximity. Rapture-based subs, and maybe covert use of boats, to take fish and plant material from a large area around Rapture. Outlying City areas ( not the Art Deco 'cityscape' ) would contain the needed processing plants/factories ( Neptune's Bounty was of this type ). Plant/animal farms INSIDE have been alluded to, and would have to be massive -- If Rapture's population is as big as the 20000+ figure (Novel). Fish can be 'farmed' ...
All of these WOULD simply HAVE to exist for the population to continue living.
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Ryan was aiming 'long term' at making Rapture self-sufficient, and anything significant/important for which Production couldn't be sufficiently Sustained would spell disaster for Rapture's future. So, Ryan would take that into consideration and handle it.
* Much would therefore have to have come originally from The Surface, and be saved/stockpiled until they were needed ( MANY MANY years worth of Stockpiles/Reserves - Ryan's Hundred Year Stockpile ).
* Some materials which might have viable substitutes might have local sources , but they would be few and not satisfy most basic needs ( AND they generally would not be cheaply obtained in any case ).
* There would thus have to be a GREAT DEAL OF PLANNED Recycling/Reuse - and thus more Businesses FIXING/Repairing existing things, rather than NEW manufacturing.
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Possible Local Material Supplies :
Some materials are not that hard to come by. Agriculture Organics are often the base materials for Plastics. Materials like Carbon are used in numerous industrial processes, and can be in the form of charcoal - made from heat purified organic matter.
A few minerals can come as byproduct of the Geothermal Wells used to generate power. Salt of course is easily available.
Undersea Salvage might fill in some needs, but would be difficult and have considerable costs. Oil ( at least for lubricants ) might be accessible in the areas North of Rapture - again at significant expense.
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You Just Cannot Produce Certain Materials in Rapture :
Stuff brought from The Surface would include things various people needed and just could not get from the Ocean. A toolmaker would bring his own supply of tool materials - a whole stockpile of them - when knowing (being told 'up front') that replacement materials would likely be non-existent, inferior or horribly expensive.
Some materials like copper/rubber are used in large amounts in the modern industrialized world, and even on The Surface the places producing copper/rubber are few and far between. SO again, many materials will simply have to be massively stockpiled - sufficient replacement for Rapture's lifetime (100 years ?) Rubber can be made artificially, but at much greater expense and using materials that still have to be obtained specially ( goes for most plastics as well ).
And some of the items made from those special materials you might as well have them built-up/created on The Surface - where it can be done cheaper ( so hard-to-make spare parts might as well also be stockpiled ). Remember, alot of complex industrial processes used to produce the materials (and parts) is quite specialized. The people with the required specialized skills just could not exist in Rapture ( AND it is not JUST the Materials, but all the Tools required for those processes ). Scale of Production also is a factor. Economy of Scale in the Surface World can be magnitudes more cost effective than some small scale shop operation in Rapture.
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Things That Just Wouldn't Be Made in Rapture :
Example : Watches. How many New watches would really be needed in Rapture's small economy/population ?
Watches are complex devices requiring significant craftsmanship and skill ( and specialized manufacturing if they aren't to be "Rich Men's Toys" as they historically started out to be ).
One or two watchmakers might be possible, but probably most of their business would be watch Repairs ( and probably for Clocks too ). But manufacturing new ones ? The few watchmakers coming to Rapture might bring a stash of hundreds of standard premade mechanisms, and just finish/customize them. It would be unlikely that they would FULLY handcraft very many intricate mechanisms required for those modern mechanical watches themselves, and FEW people could afford such when they did ( to have a price anywhere near as cheap as the Surface World's Mass Produced watches ). Once their 'Stash' ran out, that would be it ( parts can be custom fabricated, but again at a very high price ).
Think of all the complex specialty devices of that 1950s time period all being a similar case. Lots of repairs, but little full manufacturing.
Watches, if there WAS a demand, would have been a good smuggling Contraband item ( small size, high value ).
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Rapture Societal Demographics ( As Compared to a Typical U S City ) :
No Welfare and Few Charities. Thus Less 'bums' ( Ryan wouldn't let in too many people without skills or inclination to work, to start with ).
Few Leftists - Ryan has a revulsion to Parasites, and Foisterors of Parasitism, and Collectivists in general ... He 'Has THEIR number'. Novel has Bolsheviks murder family members of his in Russia in his boyhood.
More Craftsmen, more Entrepreneurs - There won't be many big industries IN Rapture - making narrow specialized mass-production skills unneeded ( so less reason for organized "Labor" adherents to exist ).
Fewer Old people ( Productive people would be sought, and the expectation/unknowns from Rapture's culture and the bother of picking up and moving would dissuade many less serious people ). Rich Old People looking to escape growing social poisons in the Surface World would be an exception.
There would be MANY People who believe more in Individualism ( 'Rejectors' of Socialism/Welfare State/Communism ).
Perhaps more Artists -- but maybe not as many as you might think ... Rapture Artists Don't Quit Your Day Job as most artist barely 'Make a Living' from it ( and Rapture has a limited population AND NO GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF 'artists' ). SO that would mean more amateur artists - keeping a 'day job'.
In general, there would be less the burden of non-earners within Rapture.
The Result could be a general higher standard of living ( higher production equals more to buy ). Similar things were happening in America during that era. Less Mass Production would mean higher general prices for non-consumables ( but the immigrants would be able to bring many possessions with them when they came to Rapture ).
Population demographics would also shift as Rapture-born children were added to the population.
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 "Gone To Rapture" :
How many of the original Rapture Investors died 1946-1958 ( the 'normal' period of Rapture's History ) ???
The MMORPG should explain in some background the Details of the process of Surface holdings/asset conversion/transfer ( selloffs, material investment ) while maintaining the security/secrecy and plausibility of their disappearance -- Dealing with relatives left behind who WOULD WANT to know what was happening and why.
Ryan's own companies would likely not have stockholders initially, but HOW do you sell-off (to Build Rapture) large amounts of what YOU own WITHOUT too many complications/troublesome-investigations ???
Historical Note : Roughly 1/3 of The Historic English Magna Carta ( The Great Charter ) dealt with Inheritance Law. SO similarly in the modern world you cannot just have all the rich people 'Faking their own Death' to go to Rapture unless they have already sold-off everything they own ( and the checks clear ). 
'Paper Trails' need to be avoided ... And such a process realistically takes some time to be worked.
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 "Gone To Rapture" TWO :
People going to Rapture 'To Escape Surface World DEBTS' ( 'Gone to Texas' ... )
Allowing people INTO Rapture who were 'Running from Debts' might be allowed with consideration of the source of those Debts - like unjust IRS tax bills, or confiscations by Governments, etc ...
Running From Bankruptcy debts and liquidating Monies to BRING TO Rapture might be another mitigating circumstance.
People running from Tyranny - preferably bringing expensive valuables with them.
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The Cause For Rapture's "Decline" ( Fall ? ) :
Were essential jobs like food processing, cleaning, and maintenance not getting done because there were too many 'elites' ? Would this lead to Recession ? There is no huge manufacturing industry to 'fall off' in Rapture - like there was in America before the Depression.
The writers may want that Crash idea. BUT there would be plenty of Ordinary People in Rapture either escaping the Pending Doom in the Surface World, OR it being Post-WW2 with millions in devastated Europe - who would leave simply to get to a better place. Those people (unlike many today) actually knew how to work and accepted it and would put up with 'hard times'. 
Rapture's earlier economic downturn seems to have been precipitated when the major city Construction ceased, and a number of the construction workers had to readjust and re-integrate into the economy -- Which they apparently largely did, as that was around 1952. So for THAT 'Recession', things were able to get 'back to normal' by the time the Kashmir Massacre (1958) happened and with Fontaine's actions to destabilize the city as 'Atlas'. 
The Audio Diaries spoke of a 'Run on the Bank' which would greatly disrupt/interfere-with normal business/financial operations when the Citizenry became more cautious and afraid. Businesses failed and thus additional people could not pay others, and the disruptions snowballed.
So it was NOT dissatisfaction with 'menial' jobs, but LACK of Jobs which gave Fontaine/Atlas some easy prey for his 'promises' - given to desperate people ( That is assuming with having enough people falling for that tactic, which many had already gotten in their lives BEFORE Rapture --- And maybe with how many being mentally-affected Splicers ?? ). Since this is a Shoot-em-up game, other solutions could/would be offered by the writers which might prevent their contrived dystopic situation, which was required for the game-standard mass-slaughter behavior to be performed by the Player.
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Consider : The BIG economic distress ACTUALLY happened because of Fontaine using ADAM as a destructive tool to take over Rapture. His terrorist's chaos broke confidence in public safety, and the economy could not operate normally with large numbers of murderous Splicers wandering the streets ( Rapture had NOT previously been a Police State, and Ryan's men were not really equipped to deal with ADAM-powered terrorists ). The required Security measures Ryan undertook disrupted 'normalcy' ( Rapture was at that point effectively in a War Economy - one like Britain or Germany had, instead of like a relatively untouched American ).
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Economic Distress ( the Earlier Economic Depression or Recession ) : 
Apparently, Rapture had a Recession/Depression in the early 1950s as the result of city construction largely ending. Likely caused by some job loss/readjustments, but large disruptions of money flows to all the things ( directly and indirectly ) involved in that construction business. As mentioned elsewhere , there were fewer-than implied unskilled Construction Workers, and more instead had transfer skills. But there still would be a Labor glut as the construction shutdown and the supply pipelines ceased.
Crash - Do the same mechanisms operate in a Rapture microcosm ( 20000 - 40000 people )? Versus a larger real world financial system - like the American Economy ( 1930 census 123,000,000 ) ... ~3000 times larger. It is still largely a psychological effect which can exaggerate negative effects.
Would there be less 'fluidity' in the financial market, so to disallow an equivalent of the historic 'Freefall' situation ?? 'Crash' in Rapture - Would it be slower than in the Real World ? - There more likely would be A Chance for recovery of partial value for investment ( IF people/institutions had learned anything from the unsecured/poorly secured loans in the late 1920s which caused THAT 1929 "Crash" ). Rapture would not regulate speculation, but would have to enforced legal protection via law measures for Contracted 'Safe' investment.
Lesson about Speculation Margins : Sell-off terms 'Margin Call', bankruptcy/security conditions ( a general public realization of the 'risk' involved, though stupidity can't be eliminated ). There was also no multi-tiered stock financing in TOO SMALL Rapture ( what precipitated so much financial mayhem in 1929 ). 
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MONEY :
Money Supply - How is it organized/run/managed ?
What is the Money in Rapture based on ? Specie Specie = valuable substance/item the money is made of or is officially held to back up the money - coins can be made out of precious metal ? Is the MONEY in Rapture value derived-from (and limited by) ... some precious metals ?
Who issues money, and how much ? And could the Money Supply fluctuate (inflation/deflation) ? Is there enough money in circulation that is 'backed' by something real ?
Value might be based on a basic utility power quantity - Rapture Dollars would ALWAYS be accepted as payment ( Kind of like American Civil War Greenbacks (printed paper money) which were made acceptable largely because they WERE promised to be accepted to pay all government taxes/fees ).
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 BANKS :
Banks offer loans ( middlemen who match up lenders/depositors and borrowers ) but prefer to have some kind of contractual Security ( and with risks justifying a higher interest rate ).
Unregulated Banks offer risk to lenders for a higher 'cut' - with lower chance of recovering on Loan Failure ( even with borrower's security being surrendered ).
Many people who came to Rapture brought their Life Savings, which was used to pay for city construction and converted to ownership in Rapture property ( and the rest converted to Rapture Money ). Rapture's Taxes would be low ( a small uninvolved government paid via 'Use Fees' ). Some stagnating properties (during economic downturns) may then be sustained with minimal expense, after most utilities are turned off/curtailed.
Banks setup mortgages with Security being specified ( building/holdings owned by the Bank IF bankruptcy happens ).
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BANKRUPTCY :
Companies can also be reorganized after going into receivership (not a 'total loss').
Fire Sale acquisition of 'company' by a new investor who would be buying it to utilize and reactivate.
When a bankrupting company defaults, the Bank owns whatever assets the company had - tools/material ( depending on the loans deal/contract ).
There can be only a limited market in the Rapture microcosm, so there is limited production competition. This means if one company goes out of business, AND what was produced is needed (strong market demand), then there is an opportunity to reopen/replace the business. The employees are likely still around, and there is a high possibility that production could resume. Prices can go way up in a shortage, depending on the utility of/demand for the product.
Rapture has few 'large' industries', and limited automated production - So restart of production might be not so complex. Rapture has a higher proportion of small specialty companies - with multiple product sources competing.
Less-demanded/less-needed (optional) products consumption would cease/slow down, while demand for Basics (including services) would continue.
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MARKET CRASH ? :
In Raptures Economy, How large could a city-wide credit bubble be ? How much credit was 'in play' as a percentage of the economy ? "Let The Buyer Beware" should be a little better understood ( the whiners in BS1/BS2 would really only have been a small minority, and few would join an 'Atlas' anarchist ). Some people like Prentice Mill were portrayed as 'wiped out', but he would actually still have been one of the richest men in the City, if even a fraction of his Ryan-requested Bank-Sustaining 'Loan's were secured. (( All a bit of contrived BS there in that plot item on the writers part - Showing Very Little understanding of basic economics - especially about "How Rapture Would Have To Operate" - Small Scale, Isolation, Etc... )).
A "Stock Market" (stock exchange) or more limited 'share' system being a scaled-down Rapture-sized equivalent ? ( less volatility ... )
Money doesn't disappear, Credit does ( Money still available to be loaned, if the owner accepts the risk ).
Where does Money go/wind up - People who have it will eventually spend it or invest it, but can become Cautious when the investment climate becomes 'dodgy'.
Banks 'Savings' account customers get repayment from liquidated Mortgages ( "Loan Security" - and whatever other security is required by the loan ), and Bankrupt company proceeds. So the bank saver's Savings have at least some monetary recovery ( perhaps alot, depending on what the loan security was ).
What size of non-speculative savings existed in Rapture ? ( and how many people just save it in a deposit box at the 'Bank' as well as 'Safes' at home ?? ) Transaction Services only pays so much. A bank has to loan out 'Saved' Money to be in business - So what would those loans be for to be 'safe enough' in the customers minds ? Banks by legal contract could be required to require Adequate "Loan Securities".
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INVESTMENT :
Investors expect High Payout for High Risk and understand Lower Payout for Lower Risk.
I suppose Hephaestus Power ( a classic utility ) might be an acceptable investment, but the loans would go to expand the infrastructure and not have high interest ( and not be limited as it is tied to city expansion and in economic distress the utility use declines ). A Power Company Utility is fairly stable and even in economic slowdowns still retains much of their business.
--- --- --- 
Toll Roads - Use Fees :
Discussion about whether Rapture had 'official' Police ( ie- Ryan Security or Rapture Security ) had mentioned that "Private security" was proposed to exist without an overriding system of standards, etc ... That lead to : How does it all THEN get paid for - if every locality had its own 'Security' ?
So, if everything in Rapture was to be mercenary in its outlook ( not my idea of how it would be ) then you wouldn't have any public 'Streets' - all would be privately owned and paid for on a subscription basis ( so if YOU didn't live there YOU would be required to PAY for access -- AS MUCH AS THE MARKET WILL ALLOW ). Many Public areas may be City Responsibility and paid for out of general funds coming from the Utility System income. Any Private ownership WOULD have requirements of being properly maintained if they are used for general access.
Payment for Access ? We saw an example in BaS of a 'pay' elevator ( to get to Market/High Street ), which I would hope was in addition to a 'free' stairway ( You pay for the convenience, and maybe the exclusivity of not having to share it with the Hoi Polloi ) instead of that path being a monopoly. Advertisements within such conveyances might defray some operating expenses.
Collect 'tolls' for everything you use just by being somewhere ? It is the general inconvenience factor which would work against such a system ( and economy-of-scale factors would eventually consolidate it into one 'tax' system - in the mean time, Citizens would face the constant bother of a chaotic 'Charge or Not to Charge" environment. ) Ryan would try to skip all that complexity for most of his City ( and since HE built the place, anyone who decided to be so absurdly mercenary would find THEMSELVES 'tolled' out of existence by him ).
* Tokens (like subway tokens) don't easily work with a variety of 'access tolls' with their varying prices.
* The 'air tax', etc... ( You don't get to come here and breathe OUR air for free !!! )
* Fees for everything ( Someone has to pay for the air/light/heat and the wear on the sidewalk ). 
* Get ready to carry change for the coin slot on EVERY 'Toll' Securis door.
* Pay Toilets we saw ( in NYC it was more to keep bums from setting up home in them ), but not the Pay Toilet Paper Dispensers ( the Deluxe Toilet Seat Warmers were optional though ).
* Shutters on the windows that only open ( for 5 minutes ) after depositing a coin ... Scenic Views are ONLY for people willing to pay !!
* Stair Usage Fee ( turnstiles at each end - you have to pay to Get Off Them too )
* Fees just to use the Change Making Machine ...
* Customer Validation at the Bistro counter to be allowed access to the Ladies/Gents ... ( Cover Fees )
There are reasons why it never got this stupid for most of the Real World ( and wouldn't either in Rapture ). Token access for the Metro turnstiles makes sense, payphones too. But for every little thing ? It get too bothersome.
--- --- ---
How many Part-time Artists/Scientists/Inventors/Businessmen did Rapture Have ? :
Productivity ( Earning a Living ) Is Sufficiently Required.
You have to setup and work to 'produce' before there is a viable 'Product' to sell ( and possibly never, or none for a long time ). "Starving Artists" is not just a 'quaint' phrase.
Some 'hobbies' may develop to be more directly a second job/business with a product/service able to be sold continuously ( and eventually grow to be a Citizen's primary work ).
Numerous 'kitchen table' inventors in Rapture ... ( many more than in the normal world, probably ).
How does this 'inventor' person live in the meantime ? Keeping an Ordinary Job and then the other thing is done in their spare time.
Patronage is possible, but limited. Not everything leads to profit ( a general misunderstanding by the game writers ). There are other reasons someone gives patronage - so there IS a potential for all kinds of interesting things to be found/developed in Rapture.
Creating a Saleable Product is not generally simple or cheap. Investment to build a Business is required. Competition with equivalent products can limit Market.
--- --- ---
Economics of Production Markets - The "Mining Exchange" & Commodity Markets :
A Bidding Market - Would it be subject to Speculation ?
If the materials being produced are limited by effort rather than limited resource, then it is hard(er) to 'Corner the Market'. Supply can be increased if there is higher demand and price. Competition ( including additions ) between producers can prevent Monopoly. 
Small scale of Rapture's economy/market can be a problem. It is possible that few producers existing could allow price-fixing. Difficulty/delay of creating new production startups makes it harder to react to demand price-rises with additional competition. We've seen anti-competition with Fontaine's ( too convenient ) predatory methods, but an actual Free Press would generally suppress that criminality. 
Direct contracts with producers would be the rule for most businesses. Penalties would motivate efforts to meet contract requirements. Excess Supplies might be subject to a bidding market.
-
Risks In Speculation :
Mining ventures usually are risky, and to have any chance to grow into something useful (industrial scale) requires Capital to expand - once a workable resource is found.  With Ryan's drive to make Rapture self-sufficient ( or as close to that as possible ), viable sources of critical minerals/materials (commodities) needed to be found and operated.   One system was to have Citizens speculate their money voluntarily -- versus forcing Citizens via taxation to raise money for the needed venture ( Which system do you think Ryan backed ? ).
In the speculation system a 'Bank' or 'Exchange' was setup which organized 'Share' investments in companies which carried out prospecting, sampling development and operation of 'mines' producing the valuable minerals and substances.   The Mining Exchange facilitated the issuing, tracking, buying and selling of the 'shares'.
Once Rapture was cutoff from The Surface, these mining operations had much more profit potential ( without most of the competition from the Surface sources, and real smuggling had significant overhead costs and risks ).   Of course, there are important minerals which you simply cannot get from the Ocean, and Ryan would arrange to have sufficient supplies of these built up in 'Hundred Years Stockpiles".
There probably would also be an adjacent Commodity Exchange which would operate as a clearinghouse for actual supplies of minerals, and many other bulk raw materials/foodstuffs - a mechanism that regularizes pricings for businesses who require some stability in their supply.  'Futures' markets helped determine/set stable pricing, which established profitability of producing materials.
The mining ventures varied significantly in success of their production and thus profits, as luck and skill/ability were factors in any success.
Underwater mining has cost overheads well in excess of mines up there on The Surface. The techniques and equipment used to build Rapture ( and later new technologies ) could compensate significantly ( perhaps created and expanded as a byproduct of ADAM use - Brain Boost ).  Few minerals could ever be produced cheaper than they were already on the Surface.
One limiting factor is the size of Rapture, and the limited market which nullified the advantages of 'striking it big' - when Supply could easily exceed Demand, and prevent extra profitable mass exploitation of a newly discovered resource ( quickly dropping prices on over-supply ).
As with an 'old time' stock market', shareholders could be required to pay 'assessments' for their Shares when the company needed more capital to operate.  If you did not pay the assessments, your Shares were forfeited.  The people who ran the companies were beholden to their Shareholders who had voting rights and could change the companies operators or effect decisions about the operation.
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New Rapture Investments Cannot Be Large/Organized
Thus harder for "Manipuklations".
New Rapture has not really grown large enough (lacks scale), and is much too disorganized to have the type of financial operations to be the equivalent a real 'Stock Market'. Any Share type investments would also be on a much lesser scale.   Most businesses would have personal investment and control.
Actually, for Pre-Fall Rapture, the small scale limits Investments ( no equivalent to the many magnitudes larger Surface World ).
For the MMORPG, there could be various related Missions to get info from the Mining Exchange and the offices of various companies to locate a mining operation for some resource New Rapture needs, or to go get a shipment of some critical materials or some intact equipment to be employed for some project.   Related Missions would be to recover the needed materials from one of Ryan's dispersed 'Hundred Years Stockpiles", or some private stockpile some Citizen was rumored to have kept ( or was know to have at one time - from surface import order paperwork records ).
Volcanic regions are frequently the sites of certain mineral deposits, but often are limited to what they contain ( and usually lack sufficient natural concentration for easy extraction ).   The Water emerging from geothermal vents often can contain recoverable amounts of different minerals, and any area known as "Fumerole Alley" ( west of Hephaestus ) having extensive small deep vents was the site of this type of 'mining' operation.
--- --- ---
Alcohol Made Out Of Sea Kelp ? 
Too much methyl (poisonous), and a bit low BTU for fishing boat fuel ( but has various other uses ... )
Mass Kelp growing would have to be local, and maybe use electric semi-automated machinery. A Mini Sargasso Sea near Rapture ? Except it is too cold, and storms make it float away and can wreck any tethers/anchors. Or there is too much deep water except in vicinity of the Mt Ryan Sea Mount
But any starch ( from foodstuffs ) can be employed in making alcohol via fermentation, millions of people did during Prohibition. Gin ( from 'Geneva liquor' of medieval fame ) was such a generic booze made easily from cheap materials, causing its price to drop and increased access and then alcoholism (poor people's booze). 
Wine is harder to make palatable than purified white liquors ( 'Quadruple distilled' works even for vodkas made from horse turds - though I wouldn't suggest trying it ). 
--- --- ---
Maryjane (Marijuana) In Rapture ... :
Iti s just a Hemp-type plant being grown, and it doesn't take that much know-how ( THC was also weaker in those days than those stronger developed strains in our recent decades ). There very probably would be a commercial use for Hemp Fiber to make it more likely to be grown in Rapture.
You didn't see an packs of 'Ganjas' laying about on your journey through those wrecked bits of Rapture. But in Columbia, in Shantytown ... ( Opiate Of The Untermenschen ). 
Little Sisters given a 'calming' smoke during their regurgitation ritual ( Daily ADAM extraction ) ... Ick.
--- --- ---
Price for a cheap boarding house in a major city around 1940. There are many fewer 'transients' in Rapture ( the Microcosm Economy is something very different from your typical city ).
--- --- ---
By the Mid 1920s, Movie Making Was the 4th largest Industry in America :
Is that really so ? Steel, Coal, Railroads, Food, Electricity, Etc ... How is this use of the term 'industry' defined ? Perhaps in amount of money (profits) made - particularly for Exports ??
So, might that be reflected in Rapture 2+ decades later and crossing over into TV ?
Rapture would have fewer 'Industries' ( many items were originally made and brought from The Surface, and so their producer may never exist in Rapture ). So there's also fewer Advertiser dollars to chase after for that kind of thing.
TV Show making (and station running) better be made ALOT cheaper for it to existing in any meaningful way in Rapture. A problem with TV is : significant advances can require mass replacement of TVs and of Camera/transmitting technology. Mass manufacturing is largely missing in Rapture, which causes such replacement to be far more expensive/unlikely even when in thousands of units. Color Television was hinted at in Minervas Den DLC, but that would have require mass replacement ( and a 'chicken before the egg' problem for mass manufacture to get the price low enough ). Transmission in Color is a separate problem which would hold that advancement back. You might think : How many people have the time to watch alot of TV ?? But offsetting the 'busy bee' mentality may be a general lack of other entertainment possibilities.
--- --- ---
Were there Tariffs on Imported Items ( Before Rapture's External Trade was Cut Off ) :
* If set TOO High enough, would give Smugglers a larger incentive.
* If set TOO Low, would retard development of 'self-sufficient' businesses and production ( if goods from outside are too cheap versus local production ).
* There probably was different charge levels for different item types ( Luxury Tax is good example, low for things like tech knowledge that might be critical to Rapture's future ).
* There would have been transport charges ( Ryan would use his own transport resources for that to minimize exposure and to try to keep Rapture secret ). Items vary in bulk, weight, and security provisions. Ryan's transport was probably more cost-effectively done versus tiny smuggling submarines.
* Tariff Money would be spent on ?? ( In the early days of America, alot (most) of Government Income came from this source - as originally there was no Income Tax ). There ARE some 'government' functions requiring funding : Constables, as an example, to be paid for. ( City Maintenance Upkeep would normally come from the Rents ... )
* What does Rapture have to Trade for the incoming goods ? Ryan and likely other rich people still had money in the Surface World that could be used over time ( Liquidating their worldly holdings slowly instead of a Fire Sale when moving to Rapture - Possibly half of Ryan's World Holdings still existed to be tapped into ... )
* Citizens might be encouraged to bring critical items/materials in, which could never be produced in Rapture ( raw materials like Tungsten you don't just Wave a Wand and suddenly have ) to build up a '100 Year Stockpile'. Ryan would have foreseen the problem, and bought alot of such materials, once it became clear there was no local source or practical substitute.
* Initial possessions and business related items might have been exempt ( and smart immigrants might have brought as much as possible in with them -- they may even have been encouraged simply to quickly help make the City livable ). They WOULD pay the transport for such goods.
--- --- ---
Dissecting Fontaine's Bistro Menu Sign (BaSx) :
: Plasmid-chilled wine 15c
: Aspic Prawn Casserole 25c
: Lamb with mint jelly 50c
: Rehydrated Ham 30c
'Ala Carte' pricings (not a full dinner) ...
"Ham" and "Lamb" implies farm grown foods -- too cheap here for it being 'smuggled', and implied as special/desirable instead of just 'made' in a industrial plant (artificial meat). With all the vegetation based food stuffs, feeding farm animals silage ( at least as easy as producing 'Wine' ), and byproducts ( Pigs will eat almost anything ) would be far simpler/cheaper than any passable synthetics ( something they can barely do today ).
"Prawns" from the usual source, and can even be 'farmed' using grown feeder foods - even employing sewage ( as is done in the Real World -- a fact which should horrify you when you are told ). "Sinclair Shrimp - Cheapest in Rapture !!!"
We can ignore the many stupid things in that DLC, and concentrate on what are likely prices for those items ( in the real world, when in Rapture they probably should be somewhat higher ).
We might assume that the BS1/BS2 seen Vending Machine Prices we saw were 'Chaos' Prices ( desperate people buying to Survive ... and a wonder anything is left in any machine OR laying on the ground ).
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That makes the ridiculous prices seen in Infinite BS's Columbia in their Vending Machines so much MORE absurd, BECAUSE they are supposed to be in a NORMAL Societal state, which makes Vigors/'upgrades' costing a normal years salary quite strange and illogical.
Seriously, they could have scaled down the prices (and loot) as part of the games period 'flavor' ( it is what they hyped - didn't they ?? ). But I guess that inflated numbers in games is conditioned into Players these days ( "I looted this Corpse, and only got 12 cents ?? WTF ??? ... STUPID GAME !!!" -- Player being ignorant that 12 cents could buy you a pretty good meal in the 'Down Below' in 1912. )
--- --- ---
Craftsmen and Businesses in Rapture : 
Consider that anyone who had a Craft Profession (going to Rapture) would bring their Tools and a good supply Critical Materials with them ( liquidating their worldly assets to do so ). Immigrants would NOT be limited to 'a suitcase'. Thus, the transport problem for the immigration would be of all the stuff people brought with them ( many trips for Ryan's 'tramp' steamers ). 
There would be little mass-manufacturing for the consumers in Rapture ( there not being enough customers ) - It being more 'Crafted' short run items. So there WOULD be a huge 'Repair and Renovation' opportunity for businesses, instead of making any huge amount of new stuff. Rapture would get VERY good at Repairing and Recycling things ( It being the most cost-effective methodology/solution ).
Smugglers could only bring in items they could sell for top prices - due to their limited capacities/opportunity and significant overhead costs. This would mostly be Luxury Goods for people who could pay. Small Subs can only carry so much, and running thousands of miles to anywhere ( ex - 4000 miles to the East Coast US ) costs significant effort and TIME (and Risk). Difficulties are added because it is an illegal trade in Rapture : Buying off authorities, and keeping it sufficiently hidden - Those further add to the overhead costs. There is also the reality that the Smugglers have to BUY/Acquire the stuff ON THE SURFACE with SOMETHING, it not being Rapture CASH is something compact which has to be "Fenced" for a less than optimal value conversion ( and eventually being of a limited availability IN Rapture ). Dealing with or without other criminals On the Land has a whole 'nuther set of risks and complicationReal World Complications are not always something game writers care to deal with when they can instead just 'Wave Their Hand' to make happen in their story..
Early on, Ryan would have authorized ways to obtain needed materials and tools as a priority, to make Rapture's Self-Sufficiency possible. Specialized and critical materials example 'Tungsten' for light bulbs, that would be something that would be stockpiled ( It is hard to get even in the Surface World ). After he deciding to close off Rapture from the Surface, Tungsten would be a material that A GREAT DEAL of would need to be stockpiled for Long-term needs ( possibly premade into filament wire on The Surface, as it is cheaper up there, than being done by some small/specialized company in Rapture ). Even after the 'closing off', some critical materials/tools/knowledge would still be brought in ( to make up for late discovered of shortcomings ), all done while following strict secrecy protocols.
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HARD CASH in Rapture :
Use of Actual Gold and Silver Coinage ( Paper Bills is something else - a 'promissory note' which has to have a 'guarantor') :
* Limits to the Money Supply ( which must be big enough for the economy ) which eliminates Inflation.
* Cannot be used originally to pay for Raptures building ( outside expenditures require 'Surface' money - likewise subsequent Imports ) 
* Likely the same 'Value' as the 'Specie' 'backing it up' (or why have it) - Rarity vs Utility Value.
* Prices still subject to adjustments ( Rapture microcosm with possible collapse of specie value versus 'survival' material ).
* Subject to 'Hoarding' ( lowering the availability of circulation money ) 
* Who 'coin's the money ??? ( The State usually did it on The Surface, or 'Contracted' - for it to be done to specific standards )
* Standard Conversion Rate (who decides) ?
* Counterfeiting a Crime ( substituting specie of lesser value ), as is 'Debasing the Currency'.
What else would the Rapture Money be based on? Paper 'Fiat money', if required, might still be 'based on' value like acceptance for utility/Ryan-rent payments ( to give it some value ).
New Rapture needs currency to facilitate resurgence of Rapture's civilization. ( Problem of Gold/Silver Coins being numerous with large chunks of previous population being dead. )
--- --- --- ( Rapture Financial Transactions ) --- --- --- 
Surface Investors ===> Surface Bank ( Ryan's/Shell Accounts for building fund ) ===> Rapture Property
Immigrant's Real World Money ===> Surface Bank ===> Rapture Money(R$)
( Sell surface assets, gradual conversion to liquid assets slowly to be sold off for max value ) 
Money Reserves on Surface - used to Pay for Construction, Buy Materials, and Overhead Expenses
Citizens Rapture Bank ===> Surface Bank ===> Purchase Outside Services and Goods transported to Rapture 
Private Possessions' (Surface) --- Transported ===> Possessions in Rapture
Rapture-Made Products (Technology/ADAM Therapies) ===> Sold on Surface to obtain funds.
Businesses providing products and services and paying for materials and labor and overhead expenses
--- Rapture Money FLOW (Rapture Dollars R$) - including Surface Bank Xfer ---
Payments between Citizens for Labor/Goods/Services within Rapture ( including utilities and rent )
Purchases of Surface Goods to be brought to Rapture ( especially critical material stockpiles/tools )
Expenses of obtaining Industrial/Commercial information/research/knowhow/data 
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Worker Construction Labor (those 'poor' workers) ===> Rapture Money & Property (paid 'in kind') 
--- --- --- --- (Smugglers Transfers) --- --- --- --- 
Rapture Goods (with Surface-valued 'specie') ===> Fenced on Surface (at fractional value) --> Buy Surface Contraband
Smuggled Contraband ===> Sold for Rapture Money or 'Services' 
--- --- ---
Different/Abnormal Costs For Things In Rapture :
First - Valuation of the Currency - Consider that Rapture Dollars likely won't be a close match to (real world) American Dollars (US$). Prices for everything would be scaled to the Currency value ( which itself might fluctuate due to the state of Raptures Monet Supply ).
Cost Factors ( after Currency Adjustment ) :
* Availability/Scarcity of materials and skill for production
* Energy used in production/transport ( efficiency of all associated processes )
* Transportation expenses ( for the product and all prerequisites )
* Existing objects which might be repaired ( need no be bought new so limiting SCALE of production )
* Labor expense
* Tax levels ( in Rapture might be translated into Utility/Rent standards )
* Competition adjusting all Costs and Prices ( for material and is predecessors ) - Supply and Demand
Example : How much did a Ton (weight) of cement ( a fundamental Rapture construction material ) cost in 1947 ?? ( in 1955? Post Kashmir ? )
You cannot get/make Cement locally in Rapture, the materials are not available. ( Aggregate for 'Concrete' yes, but not the Cement itself ). Having to Transport it ( or one or more of its components ) to mid-North Atlantic would add much to its expense ( after it is first transported to a mainland port and trans-shipped ). Then Bulk shipment by freighter ... Then there is getting it DOWN to Rapture.
Sourcing : Part of the expense to manufacture Cement was the energy used in the process which during the war was 'prioritized'. The materials were not that expensive, but came from limited locations to allow for the cheap (modern) mass production of 'cement'.` 
When Rapture was being built, right after WW2, commercial production in the US was increased, and cement use for the war effort largely went away. There was a building boom in the US and Rapture had to compete for that for the current supply. So all the direct and indirect expenses/overhead have to be included in a things 'cost', even before any profit is involved.
An offset may be : Much Government Taxation is missing in Rapture ( not as much THEN as compared to today where government fees and taxes add upto a 50 % total sap on the economy ).
The final target of 'Cement' is Construction, and there are other materials (ie- Rebar) and processes with additional expenses involved. 
When Primary Construction in Rapture ceased, the Material Demand declined severely. Any company which MASS imported Cement would shut down that operation, and Prices of Cement may have increase via smaller 'specialty' importers (scale). When Ryan 'closed off' the City (in the early 1950s) then ACCESS would have been limited - even if new Cement might have been a prioritized material (for repairs) the costs likely would be more than when Primary Construction was underway. 
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Note how small these REAL WORLD shops are in such a huge REAL city. AND They would have 50 X more potential customers than in Rapture (or Columbia). Businessmen don't waste money on space they don't use/can't afford and constantly have to pay the overhead for.
Economics does NOT work the way Artists ( and fantasy game writers ) might conceive/expect it too. Burial At Sea's absurdly huge stores on High and Market Street were wholly ridiculous and just an extension if the Infinite BS Gianourmity
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Market Saturation : 
One thing that would concern me about the MMORPG's Player Object Fabrication (crafting) mechanism - You have these production/business niches that get saturated ( in each Server World ) by just a few Players ( If they are allowed to go into Mass-Production ) when the total number of effective Consumers are just a few thousand population. Different "Crafting" Formulas to create/fabricate such 'product' Objects within the game ( and even the physical game items themselves ) isn't the Problem, as hundreds of them can be added by Player Creators (over time).
The Issue will be that too many people will try for the popular ones ( ie- Producing Hop-Up Cola ) and get nowhere because of the supply saturation ( nobody/too-few buys theirs ... ), and then they think the 'Crafting' feature is as 'lame' as it is in most MMORPGs. Somehow the Players have to be spread out across the spectrum of producible products.
Mass-production could be restricted by making the research/skill difficult ( Real-Life assembly lines are actually quite complex to set up, and took decades of know-how to develop and have SUBSTANTIAL up-front costs ) -- Leaving most Player's Fabrication to be on a Small Scale, and allowing viable duplication ( multiple Players for same product ) to produce for the available customer base (Players and NPCs). The non-Player NPCs WILL consume alot of consumer goods, and incorporating a 'wear' (wear-out) mechanism can justify alot of continuous consumption/repairs. ( They just 'don't make things like they used to'. That Maytag Dishwasher in Kashmir still is running 20 years later ... )
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Economic Planning 101 :
It is hard to think that anyone as experienced as Andrew Ryan would NOT plan to handle the inevitable stoppage of the majority of Rapture's Construction work. Particularly with his aversion to potential sources of Parasitisms. Planned transitioning of Construction workers on to other professions would be logical. ( All else is Contrived Failtopia ).
Minimizing the number of workers which would have to stay in Rapture could also be done several ways :
* He would have as much structural work done back on land ( where it was the least costly and easiest ) and have the result shipped to Rapture's location. Thus all THOSE workers wouldn't even know Rapture existed.
* Alot of construction would be easier on the ocean's surface at the site, again with many workers NOT needing to go down to Rapture or know exactly what it was. ( Shallow water with conventional divers is FAR simpler than deep diving work -- by a magnitude or two ). The workers could largely be prevented from knowing where they are geographically.
* Alot of interior materials and machinery could be built on land and shipped out to the Atlantic site. Only the workers doing the installations down inside Rapture would thus 'know'. Construction in-place - assembling and placing of buildings, installing and tying together utilities, detailing and finishing interiors, building the transportation systems -- those would be the jobs that would need to be done below - largely by highly-trained machine operators. 
* Workers Income (for those staying) going to things like their prepaid Residences -- so the Workers would partially be paid in property and own something that would save on their living expenses in the future. The money stays in Rapture - Ryan might have been rich, but it took much more than he had, and every way would be used to maximize what it bought.
* As mentioned elsewhere, many of the 'workers' were more technical people, machine operators who's skills were transferable to other jobs. Many jobs would be repairing existing 'used' items in Rapture ( when there was hardly any reason for a place so small to have assembly-line scaled industries producing most goods ).
* Retraining would be planned for as well. Consumer goods would increase as a requirement with the population. City Maintenance would increase after the initial construction. There would be many food related jobs like farming, fishing, harvesting and food processing for the ex-construction workers ( and many of those would be technical/semi-automated, ie- hydroponics, conveyor belt factory systems, high density farming, etc ... ).
--- --- ---
Use of The Impaired and Convicts :
There was an increasing number of ADAM_Addled people in Rapture due to the poisonous effects of Fontaine's products, which supposedly were sold enough to make him rich. The effects on the users apparently mostly WEREN'T psychotic rage - but would have lesser debilitating effect on its users ( A reason also for the number of 'poor' starting to grow and cause problems ). 
The Persephone Prison SHOULD have had a manufacturing wing to employ the Inmates so to support themselves. Prisons in the old days did that. Sanitariums and Asylums also tried to be self-supporting ( I've added a Food Growing section to my Amended Persephone maps ).
Businesses might employ ADAM-impaired people to do the grunt work (ie- simple assembly) under supervision. The Persephone Prison SHOWED that it attempted rehabilitation, and that it served as the City's Insane Asylum/Jail. Sinclair would have been well positioned to make use of this Labor ( ontop of his inmate 'Think Tank' ).
--- --- ---
OFFICIAL Technology 'Leaks' from Rapture :
Some of the inventions developed in Rapture were sold outside by Ryan's remaining World Organization to raise money to build "100-Year Stockpiles" of things Rapture would NEVER be self-sufficient in.
* When possible, Ryan's people kept hold of the technology and sold 'the service' instead ( which also helped to keep secret the source of the technology ). ie - ADAM Therapies for Sick Rich People.
* Some smugglers managed also to get some technology out ( though most of the unsavory types the smugglers dealt with didn't want something not quickly converted to cash ).
--- --- ---
====Original Money Economy:====
Early Days of New Rapture ( and in the Faction of Neptune's Bounty Fishermen before that ... ) :
Citizen **Work --- -> City ( 'those who dont work dont eat' )
Citizen <--- Fish --- -- City
Token Economy :
Citizen **Work --- -> City Jobs & Maintenance
Citizen <--- Tokens **City
Citizen --- Tokens --- > Commissary --- Tokens --> City
Citizen <--- Goods --- -- Commissary <-- Goods --- City Jobs
Citizen --- Tokens --- > Citizen
Citizen <--- Goods --- -- Citizen (spare time work making stuff)
--- --- ---
'100 year Stockpile' - Storage area near Port Rapture - long term secure warehousing of various stuff :
Other companies brought their own initial supplies of critical materials ( before all the 'self-sufficiency' supply chains were operational ). Ryan probably advised them to stockpile a sufficiently large supply, IF it did not look like Rapture was going to be 'self-sufficient' in many materials ( especially when he was thinking of his 'cutoff' from the surface in 1952. )
Many of those companies brought in stockpiles and they are distributed across Rapture in many locations. Ryan would have done the same for his companies and several large supply depots are located near Port Rapture.
Of course there were many hiding places in Rapture and small businesses would likewise have hidden stockpiles of materials and critical parts that might be made cheaper on the surface, rather than attempt to make or wait for others to make down in Rapture.
--- --- ---
Rapture Economy Disruptions - CRASH - Unspecified Date Around 1951-1952" :
A Recession around ~1951-1952 -- Consider it is an educated guess based on typical real world patterns, with hints from what Prentice Mill says. An Economic downturn happen because a major industry largely stops suddenly ( ie- Like Rust Belt US and Car Industry Detroit ).
City construction (a Rapture 'big industry') would likely slow down/virtually stop when the inflow of people into Rapture ceased (closed off ~1951). Whatever trade happened with 'The Surface' up until then (except smuggling) also ends. A good size workforce suddenly has no income and the economic effect snowballs, with panic adding to the effect. ( In the Microcosm of Rapture there is no 'West' to head for/escape to, or regional variations which can absorb that destitute population. ) With lowered consumer spending, other weak businesses also fail. 
Side Effects : Prentice Mill's AE goes Bankrupt ( possibly with fewer customers, but probably it had alot of more viable competition by then ) and alot of Mill's has been Money put into the failing banks when requested by Ryan ( thus no money to prop-up/improve his Railroad ). We see that ad : "1952 Austen Streamliner" - an indication of a well developed industry - isn't that a sign of the Bathysphere 'craze'/'fad' Mill talked of being well under way around that time ? ( Note that evidence may push the 'collapse' as happening in 1952, rather than 1951 ).
So that's a SECOND big industry to close up, adding to the City's unemployment/economic disruptions. The Banks 'crash' adding to the impact upon all businesses - Some go bankrupt, others downsize. Available Investment Money dries up. 
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Guns Worth More than Butter (Chaos Period) :
I've seen in many games the taking of 'Loot' from killed enemies which can be 'sold', or being money which can be traded/spent. What was usually overlooked/ignored was the Weapons themselves, gained from dead opponents. These in the real world are often much more valuable than anything else ( usually game loot being some crap or other and rarely any of the other real equipment which might be useful to a Player, in a more detailed/realistic game ). Collecting and selling good working weapons could have resulted in a much more substantial income for the Player. Now, in many of these games, you Kill More Enemies in a few minutes than John Wayne or Rambo did in their whole career of Movies ( and YOUR whole map would be knee-deep in corpses/discarded guns by the end of the game, if the corpses did not conveniently and mysteriously disappear ). 
If some additional reality was implemented in this MMORPG game, more realistic carrying capacities might help control such windfalls ( YOU try carrying around a pile of heavy guns in a sack ... ). In this BioShock Rapture MMORPG, the body counts are far lower (actually made rare), so collecting 'stuff' plays a bigger part ( particularly since alot more of it is usable for multiple aspects of the game, not just Ammo and 'Buffs'/'Power-ups'. ) Objects also have multiple uses and sub-parts, useful for repairs/upgrades, if not just their value as recycled materials.
Of course, with a lack of commercial manufacturing for nearly a decade, shortage of working equipment/materials makes upkeep harder for weapons ( and some types of Ammo might be getting rather scarce ) in Rapture. Even spare parts become valuable. Old 'Quality' ammunition even moreso.
So you might find Splicers, but they might have few good working weapons to loot. Being valuable, your opponents will want them maybe more than you do, so you unlikely to just find them lying about.
The 'Butter' which was actually 'Luxury' (in that famous phrase), those become rare also and valued. When even just ordinary eating becomes harder, there is more and more concern about where the next meal is to come from, and the importance of protecting any good source. To survive for so long, the inhabitants of Rapture had to find/make such sources ( and hold onto them ), and you will usually be finding them near those sources. 
* Airlock Fishing ( Fish are attracted to lights, thought the decompression of an airlock usually kills them )
* Still Operating Farms ( growing wild or still cultivated )
* Mini-Farms ( a popular hobby for apartments back in Rapture's Golden Age )
* Bathtub Slime Farm ( we saw a few of these - you get hungry enough and you'll eat just about anything ... )
* Neptune's Bounty still in operation ( the 'Faction' there trades with many others in Rapture )
* Any old stockpiles trapped behind blocked doors ( Splicers would have found most of those )
"Guns and Butter" were a semi-popular Jazz Group in one of the larger Post-Civil-War Factions in Rapture -- as was a group called "Rosa Gallica" which some MMORPG Player Creator might re-create as a 'Banjo Quartet' (or not).
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Oil for Rapture :
Deep Sea Drilling projects done by Surface-based Ryan Industries may have been a possible source of Petroleum products for Rapture. Oil deposits exist some 500+ miles away, north of Iceland. 'Test' holes drilled there by his Surface companies in early 1950s might have been covertly tapped into. It is still a LONG way to transport bulk oil by 'tanker' submarine, and the oil might be best used for lubricants and plastics rather than as fuel. ( Easier maybe just to have pre-refined stuff 'dumped' off from freighters ? Self-Sufficiency is hard thing to do for a modern society in such self-limiting circumstances. )
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Not All Businesses Can Be a Success :
Automatically assuming so and thus justifying opposition to Ryan's Philosophy is a shortcoming of writers who haven't a clue about how real business works. Real People of that Time would understand that concept.
The type of people which Rapture attracted would be more a step up from the average socialist denizens ( even of that 1940s/1950s times type ), and thus would have more entrepreneurs ( which doesn't automatically equal Success on any account ). Businesses fail all the time, or are marginal for extended periods, just by circumstances.
Nothing said that a successful business on The Surface would translate into a successful one in Rapture ( and across time/events there ). Reasons might be difficulties in supply, market-size/mix, society or whatever.
Mentioned elsewhere is : The Issue that Rapture could not support alot of true Mass Production, and products had to be supplied via less efficient methods. That could skew the spending patterns of the available customers.
Even when normally a success, economic patterns might eventually thwart Continuing Success. I have posited, that even during the so called 'civil war' ( BTW, who did name it such ??? ), Ryan kept much of Rapture alive and running by isolating the Terrorist elements from the rest of Rapture. That was also done with MUCH MORE help from the normal Citizens ( who despite the game's lame story WOULD have had alot to do with defending their lives/families/businesses and Rapture ).
As would usually happen, albeit in a accelerated fashion, businesses would go bankrupt, and possibly be bought out for someone else to 'have a go at' them ( Possibly with the previous owner now being a 'skilled' employee ). Successful competitors (if any) might buy out a failing business they were in competition with.
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DIY In Rapture :
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Billings :
Billing utilities meters and meter readers. Mailed Bills done with accounting ( computer generated bills ). Bank payments on the whole system. Same for rents, debt collectors, Evictions. Cardpuch tabulators would predate Computers.
Could have 'Credit Cards' past the computer era start ( 1955 ) and autopayment from Bank Accounts.
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