One of the things that made the EVE economy work so well was that "safe space" had an abundance of low-end minerals and almost no higher-end stuff, whereas 0.0 had it the other way round. And even in 0.0 space, the concentration of the high-value minerals differs from area to area. This makes trade an essential part of the game, because no area "is an island"

That meant that there has to be a constant flow of materials and/or finished goods in BOTH directions. Supply lines are vulnerable...

That said, the EVE scenario also worked because the distances were relatively huge, resulting in many opportunities to interdict supplies.

It almost feels like beta island corps have no need whatsoever to come to alpha, because they are entirely self-sufficient.