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197

Why Higher Wages are so Economically Elusive

0
terms
3
notes

policy proposals

Avent, R. (2017). Why Higher Wages are so Economically Elusive. In Avent, R. The Wealth of Humans: Work and its Absence in the Twenty-First Century. Penguin Books Ltd, pp. 197-212

197

We might not care so much about these inequities if the digital revolution were reducing the costs of all the many things the typical household wants to buy, from steak dinners to adequate housing to a top-flight university education. But cost reductions have so far been highly uneven: massive for some things, such as digital entertainment; completely absent for others, such as homes in nice neighbourhoods.

And so stagnant wages end up mattering an awful lot. Low pay for the great mass of workers is distributionally unfair. It undermines support for the market-based economic system that enables sustained economic growth. Low pay also reduces the incentive to invest in technologies that boost the productivities of less-skilled workers, or which substitute [...] it is an enormous problem; continued productivity growth is ultimately the route to lives of greater comfort for all of humanity: it is how humanity contrives to produce more from less, so that all can have more.

this is the crux of the problem right here

ofc, he never gets anywhere near the real solution; he just wants to keep up the illusion

the last line is good but he doesn't say how we can get there!!

—p.197 by Ryan Avent 6 years, 3 months ago

We might not care so much about these inequities if the digital revolution were reducing the costs of all the many things the typical household wants to buy, from steak dinners to adequate housing to a top-flight university education. But cost reductions have so far been highly uneven: massive for some things, such as digital entertainment; completely absent for others, such as homes in nice neighbourhoods.

And so stagnant wages end up mattering an awful lot. Low pay for the great mass of workers is distributionally unfair. It undermines support for the market-based economic system that enables sustained economic growth. Low pay also reduces the incentive to invest in technologies that boost the productivities of less-skilled workers, or which substitute [...] it is an enormous problem; continued productivity growth is ultimately the route to lives of greater comfort for all of humanity: it is how humanity contrives to produce more from less, so that all can have more.

this is the crux of the problem right here

ofc, he never gets anywhere near the real solution; he just wants to keep up the illusion

the last line is good but he doesn't say how we can get there!!

—p.197 by Ryan Avent 6 years, 3 months ago
206

[...] Many of the world's richest cities are choked by inadequate infrastructure. Given rock-bottom interest rates, it seems absurd that places like New York, London and San Francisco aren't receiving extraordinary new investments in that infrastructure [...]

perhaps it's the prevailing political/economic ideology which discourages government investment in public services???? just a thought

capitalism does not allocate resources efficiently & we KNOW this, does he honestly not

—p.206 by Ryan Avent 6 years, 3 months ago

[...] Many of the world's richest cities are choked by inadequate infrastructure. Given rock-bottom interest rates, it seems absurd that places like New York, London and San Francisco aren't receiving extraordinary new investments in that infrastructure [...]

perhaps it's the prevailing political/economic ideology which discourages government investment in public services???? just a thought

capitalism does not allocate resources efficiently & we KNOW this, does he honestly not

—p.206 by Ryan Avent 6 years, 3 months ago
207

The rich world could shepherd the global economy towards that ideal outcome by allowing lots more immigration from poorer places. Immigration would enable richer places to 'export' their strong social capital to poorer places (by bringing large shares of the populations of poorer places into countries where strong social capital dominates). That would naturally deepen social and financial capital per human worker. Global savings could also be mobilized to invest in additional infrastructure in the rich countries accepting new workers. The appetite for safe, rich-country government debt is nearly insatiable.

I mean the rich world SHOULD allow lots more immigration but not for this reason, this is a dumb fucking reason

also he touches on overaccumulation here but never really gets into it (it's just assumed as a shallowly-analysed background phenomenon)

—p.207 by Ryan Avent 6 years, 3 months ago

The rich world could shepherd the global economy towards that ideal outcome by allowing lots more immigration from poorer places. Immigration would enable richer places to 'export' their strong social capital to poorer places (by bringing large shares of the populations of poorer places into countries where strong social capital dominates). That would naturally deepen social and financial capital per human worker. Global savings could also be mobilized to invest in additional infrastructure in the rich countries accepting new workers. The appetite for safe, rich-country government debt is nearly insatiable.

I mean the rich world SHOULD allow lots more immigration but not for this reason, this is a dumb fucking reason

also he touches on overaccumulation here but never really gets into it (it's just assumed as a shallowly-analysed background phenomenon)

—p.207 by Ryan Avent 6 years, 3 months ago