The Shameful Stocks of Hester Prynne is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Hester Prynne with an even hand, and renowned for its daily referendums, compulsory military service, and absence of drug laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, humorless, devout population of 23.539 billion Adulterers are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The large, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Industry, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 61.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Prudish economy, worth a remarkable 2,577 trillion Scarlet Letters a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is an impressive 109,481 Scarlet Letters, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.6 times as much as the poorest.

The experimental sculpture "Overtures In Dried Bear Dung" has been declared a national treasure, pulling weeds is seen as a threat to national security, the government regrets to say that it is forced to make cuts to citizens, and kidnapping has become the latest get-rich-quick scheme. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hester Prynne's national animal is the bear, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Hester Prynne is ranked 104,629^th in the world and 6^th in Massachusetts for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 42,259.95 Standard Monetary Units.