I've only been at the game for a short while but of the few rounds that I've played, I *always* see that the AI has taken in nearly twice my economy and I am baffled at what I might be doing wrong.

Is economy solely a byproduct of population and trading posts or is there some other layer to it? And what exactly is a refinery supposed to do? I am unclear on whether it assists the normal metal/crystal harvesters or whether it sucks value out of the random debris that is floating around the edge of the gravity well.