Hopefully someone more coherent than I will post soon, but I will try to answer.
There's only a very minor basis for economic issues in the game itself - a few numbers that you affect via issues and that are affected by UN resolutions. As for viewing those statistics, there are a few tools. I don't remember which ones are good if any, but see
http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/ for an example.
For the most part, its handled via roleplay (which we encourage!). The RP world is generally separate from the Nationstates statistics, but one of the RPers should post here soon to give more information.
Political parties here in Taijitu, which are based on the forum and are distinct from roleplay (i.e you are joining as yourself, not a nation's representative), give you a place to voice your opinions on policy. We'll sometimes debate UN resolutions.
