Links-Economics

From iGeek
Jump to: navigation, search

Links to articles on Economics that I found interesting.


Links-Economics : 2 items


Myth that Capitalism works people harder - There's a myth that Capitalism turned people into wage slaves or starting increasing their workload. The truth belief stems from the profound ignorance of the believers. The facts show that:
  • Before capitalism there was abject poverty and mass starvation, so people didn't work because they didn't have a diet that enabled them to do much but slowly starve to death. (Nobel laureates Robert Fogeland and Angus Deaton)
  • Few understand the brutality (in hours and risks) of farm work, which was the alternative. The reason they fled to cities and industry is because the jobs were better.
  • Today's jobs are better, easier, with more benefits, less death, more freedom -- and virtually none of it was "given" to us by governments.

Broken Window Links - The Broken Window Fallacy is a fundamental concept of economics (and logic) about seen advantages versus unseen costs.


GeekPirate.small.png

Economics
Economics.png
Economics.jpg
Economics.png
  • Broken Window Fallacy :
    BrokenWindows.jpg
    The Broken Window Fallacy is a fundamental concept of economics (and logic) about seen advantages versus unseen costs. Henry Hazlitt summed up the art of economics as not merely looking at the immediate consequences but the longer effects of any act or policy, and tracing those consequences not merely for one group but for all groups
  • Milton Friedman goes to China :
    Spoons.jpg
    There’s a famous economics fable of Milton Friedman going to China or India, and what happens is another way to explain The Broken Window Fallacy, in a more Socratic way. Some refer to this as Shovels vs. Spoons. The story predates Milton, but he did tell variants of it and popularized it.
  • Minimum Wage : Minimum wage is the delusion that bureaucrats and politicos know more about what's fair than the laborer and the employer, and that there's a magic round number that fair for everyone, everywhere, at the same time. We know that it hurts employment, increases automation and offshoring, and hurts the people it's supposed to help. Either these consequences are unintentional, or the politicians want to make the problem worse while pretending to help, so they have something to campaign on.
  • Goldilocks and the 3 wages :
    Goldilocks.jpg
    Minimum wage is like Goldilocks, there are three ways you can set minimum wage: too low, too high, and just right. Too low, means it's doing nothing of value. Too high means it's hurting employment and growth. And since just right can never apply to two different people, places or moments in time, there's really only one way to set minimum wage: and that's at the wrong level.
  • Minimum Wage as Price/Wage controls : Minimum wage is the delusion that bureaucrats and politicos know more about what's fair than the laborer and the employer, and that there's a magic round number that fair for everyone, everywhere, at the same time. We know that it hurts employment, increases automation and offshoring, and hurts the people it's supposed to help. Either these consequences are unintentional, or the politicians want to make the problem worse while pretending to help, so they have something to campaign on.