Blatantly copying from the other, now closed thread:
The Background Simulation is affected by trade, crime, combat, missions, bounty hunting and more. Every action has a cause and effect. Managing the effect is what many players (but admittedly not enough) focus on. Every time you deliver cargo you affect the economy and influence of a minor faction. That changes their influence % which causes civilwar, election or war or famine or outbreak or many other things. Deliver Biowaste to an agri station without agri medicines and watch an outbreak happen, shoot authority and watch crime rise and civil unrest/lockdown. All of this is dynamic and is working as intended. My biggest bugbear is Powerplay because most Powerplayers don't care about the economy, just what minor faction is in charge to boost CC.
The BGS will hopefully get even better with population changes owing to war/unrest etc one way and boom/expansion the other.