I've tried searching everywhere I can think of and I still don't quite comprehend what the TEC's pervasive economy does.  I've found a few threads here on the sins board but they didn't really quite answer it completely.

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/321913

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?aid=177473

Can anyone explain this a bit more in detail and what I can do to exploit it more in large single player games?  Some sources say it gives you credits back on your purchases and others say it's from purchases made by other players.  I'm trying to understand it more in depth.  Any help would be appreciated and an official word from an ironcladder or stardocker would be even better.   I tend to play huge multi system games against 9 hard ai's with research and ship movement on slow so i'm trying to refine my research priorities and wanted to know how pervasive works and when it becomes beneficial.