Economy part 1

Today's question is this:
How persistent is the game? "no economy" only happens if there's no persistence.

I hope to have a world that will be constant.  This will be accomplished by means of server redundancies with one server per hexfield, and with each server also supporting neighboring hexfields.  I know that the raw server power needed for many players to be able to play together in the same space is one of the largest costs associated with MMOs, which is why I will need to be very persuasive.  The question posed is pertinent though in that if a server resets or is offline then players will go elsewhere to play.

The economy itself will be comprised of raw materials such as cloned blocks, refined materials like smelted metals and components for weapons, vehicles, and structures, and finally the finished ready to use end products like the aforementioned weapons, armor, vehicles, and structures.  I would like to avoid an non player character component of the economy if at all possible, which may be unavoidable in the case of certain aspects like a trading house and basic goods store.  I also realize that there will need to be some sort of money sink to avoid inflation and keep costs reasonable.  Since most of the items in the game are temporary and will be destroyed through the normal course of gameplay that will be a large money sink right there.  The money for the economy will be in the form of credits which players will be able to earn through their actions in the game.  For example freezing an enemy will count for so many credits, providing crafting services will count for another set of credits, and anything else that one does to further their factions interests.  Of course another way to earn credits is to sell valuable materials that have been collected.  Credit dispersion will need to be an NPC function, though it could be an interface similar to an ATM or something similar.  An important note is that credits will not be transferable from player to player, which should hopefully discourage gold selling and real money transfers.  I find that free markets where players set the price are going to be the best way to handle trade.  This of course is something that will have to be tweaked and changed as time progresses.  Also there can be some elements of balance that can be blamed on the omnipotent observers, such as all materials and credits being reset at the time when winning conditions are met.  As to what the players will be able to retain during this time it will be difficult to say, though I feel that anything that has been constructed on their plots of land will remain after the reset.