Money

Money is a totally artificial way to function as a civilisation and causes a lot of complications.

The vision for a money-less society has been around for thousands of years by various philosophers

One Utopian vision is that of Gene Roddenberry and is show in his StarTrek novels where he see the need for money as redundant and people do what they believe in.

The issue of inheritance is an important understanding of assets including money.

There is also the problem in the human psyche that of fairness, why should those that do nothing get the same reward also there is the inherent issue of greed, most crimes and wars could disappear if it was easy to let everyone have material access to what they want freely, but can the future of robotics bring this Utopia! maybe in the future on other planets?

The first few 100 colonists or so will not use money as they will all be dedicated researches and explores, so the need will come as those people that just want to retire or relax on Mars start going. What the critical mass of people and robots will be before the introduced of a money/bartering system becomes important, As money is used I also guess crime will start/increase. Mars could be a new start for a total fresh start for monetary systems we live by, but Mars may not be removed far enough from Earth to break away.

Martian Dollar

If the Martian Dollar does comes into existence Mars will be a cashless society

Money on Mars will most likely come about from Earth based organisations who invest large amounts of money into Martian infrastructure with the sole aim of getting a return, this can be seen in many films, in the film "Total Recall" there is a monopoly on air.

There will also be a growing trend on Mars from those that go to Mars to explore and build to those that go to Mars to retire or just relax like tourists these people will expect to eat, drink and breath and have accommodation on Mars while many other on Mars will be working hard to maintain basic needs. This in my mind will become a forcing issue, all people will also need the opportunity to be able to make money.

House prices on Mars

Accommodation on Mars initially will be free to the early colonists but as the number of people increases their will start to be a cost involved.

If the first bases are for exploration then other countries will be interested in having their own bases, say SpaceX has a strong foothold then the Chinese ask for assistance with their base SpaceX could then charge them accordingly to help build the base.

China in turn could then help a Russian Base.

Bean Counters paradise!

One very important need; certainly while during the initial development will be the storage and keeping a very careful inventory of quantities and exactly where they are stored. Every single resource from Earth or even made on Mars initially will need to be located quickly in case of emergency's and made sure require supplies are there as the next delivery from Earth could be some time arriving.

Late on when more in-situ resources are plentiful it will matter less as the Mars economy develops.