Hickman888
Prince
The way I interpret it, the 3 late game Economy civics are meant to represent a choice: Free Enterprise boosts , Central Planning boosts , and Public Welfare gives a small boost, as well as a way to rush production. A little taste of both.I think stability in and of itself must be considered amongst the pros and cons of of a civic, so at some point in a game strong combinations like that must be abandoned to create a more governable realm.
In regards to egalitarian vs individualism, I really think the "spend gold to finish production" should be moved to either individualism or free enterprise, to represent the ability to conjure resources from private business outside of the public sphere. Perhaps +1 hammer to town for individualism as well, as another incentive against egalitarian?
The issue here is that of the 3 late game Society civics, Individualism is the only one that can be used to directly boost production, but it suffers a stability penalty with Public Welfare, which is the civic that allows you to actually do something useful with your ; Rush production.
So I'm kinda torn here in my opinion, because on the one hand I love the current choice that the economy civics force you to make, between commerce and production. But on the other hand, it feels like the Society category doesn't have too much cohesion with the Economy category, that other civic categories seem to have with each other.
I think I'll wait until the new map to really make a definitive statement, though. That could potentially turn the current meta on its head.