Destroying two Death Stars would have crippled the Star Wars universe

Destroying the Death Star was a huge win for the Rebel Alliance, but it likely had a negative impact on the universal economy.

Zachary Feinstein, an assistant professor of economics at Washington University, said the death of the Death Star would have caused ‘catastrophic’ economic crisis across the galaxy, according to a press release from the University.

His findings are published in a recent study entitled ‘It’s a Trap: Emperor Palpatine’s Poison Pill.’

“This project was really about modeling the size of the Galactic economy and banking sector,” Feinstein said in the release.

“Once I had that, I simply applied my research on measuring financial systemic risk to determine the required bailout.”

His research has found the first station would have had a price tag of $193 quintillion while the second would have been more than double at $419 quintillion.

Even with a galactic economy valued at $4.6 sextillion, Feinstein said avoiding a total economic collapse would require a bailout valued at 15 to 20 per cent.

Feinstein adds that without that bailout, “there was a non-negligible chance of over 30 percent drop in the size of the Galactic economy overnight — larger than the losses from the Great Depression over 4 years (from peak to trough).

“The outlook appears very grim for the common Imperial citizen,” he said. “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.”

The newest movie in the series is slated to hit the big screens Dec. 18.