I had the thought that if we had some commodity which can be produced very fast (talking a few minutes or even seconds), newer players could start selling stuff on the market in their first few minutes in the game. Because of high supply the price will be very low, so newer players don’t make more money, but about the same as when they are producing something taking a few hours or a day.
This way newer players get the basics of the game faster and get to do something in their first few days, increasing the chances that they continue playing.