Jeff Zeitlin said he was looking for a better word for
"ghettoization." In the poli sci literature the word is "dependency."
If you're really interested in this subject there's a good book
called _Dependent Development_ by Peter Evans about Brazil.
You could easily adapt the experiences of Brazil and countries
like it to an interstellar civilization. To put it in Traveller terms:
Megacorps or companys from hi-tech worlds establish subsidiaries
on low-tech worlds to take advantage of their raw materials and low
labor costs. They may then establish local suppliers of inputs for
their products, eithe because the local government forces them to or
because its cheaper than importing. Often they transfer some technology
to their local partners so that they can better produce the inputs
that the megacorps need.
This often creates a two tier society with a ring of hi-tech
export industries clustered around the starport while the rest of
the planet languishes at its basic tech level. The megacorps workers
and the employees of its suppliers will have much higher incomes than
the rest of the planet and will begin demanding luxury consumer goods
from off-world.
A cozy relationship can grow up between he megacorps, the local
suppliers, and the government. The megacorps get cheap production, the
local suppliers get a lot of business, and the government gets good tax
revenue. Unfortunately, a lot of the money generated by these activites
may go into maintaing the life-style of those in this triple alliance.
This could be the basis for the "imperial society" that has been
discussed elsewhere.
Adventure opportunities abound in this situation and can easily
be taken from history. You could have rebels seizing control of the
gov't and "nationalizing" the megacorps assets, which might cause
intervention from Imperial Marines to "protect the lives and property
of Imperial citizens." It doesn't have to be the empire either. You
could use this in the Regency or in the RC.
What happens if a newly "assimilated" world decides to try and
kick the RC out? What if the megacorps are trying to recover national-
ized assets? How about being in the pay of rebels who want to
interfere with the operations of the megacorps? Maybe the players'
ship is carrying the megacorps products and is hijacked so as to
"liberate" the cargo for the rebels.
You can have a lot of fun with this idea and history is replete
with examples that would make excellent adventure nuggets.