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... so, to summarize: If something is truly important to society, then one should want to ensure that lots of people are doing it, and that supply ensures that

by ssivark 10y ago

... so, to summarize: If something is truly important to society, then one should want to ensure that lots of people are doing it, and that supply ensures that they will all not get paid highly. Am I the only one who finds it perverse that this is regarded a "successfull economy"?

creshal 10y ago
I wasn't under the impression that we have an over-supply of nurses, firefighters and teachers. More a supply shortage of skilled personnel in either branch because the pay is too low.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  It's a feedback loop - the better the pay is, the more people are after it, which lowers the pay, and so forth. This loop tends to be more disrupted in highly regulated fields (like healthcare), but there are other factors too. For instance, in my country, an important reason for the shortage of doctors and nurses is simply that they can find a better pay and more humane working conditions abroad, and so they emigrate.
  - tombone12 10y ago
    Except that in advanced economies most people are not primarily motivated by potential future income when "choosing" their profession, an many people do not consider it much at all (just look at people choosing to study literature instead of business admin). Some might say future income is their main motivation but are just irrationally motivating a choice done on some other basis (the starving artist dreaming of making it big). Even in more traditional economies, the son of a smith "chooses" to be a smith more out of filial duty than because its a job he has good potential to earn money with. Another reason is that he is too poor to change profession, and so does not change it despite there being a more lucrative opportunities.
- Domenic_S 10y ago
  Nurses are a bad example - they make crazy good money and are unionized.
  - AstralStorm 10y ago
    In some countries that aren't in Europe? (well, they are unionised too)
    - Domenic_S 10y ago
      Yes. I have several friends who are nurses, all of whom made around $100k right out of nursing school (more or less depending on proximity to a large city). Here's their union: http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/site/entry/california-nurses-association http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/site/entry/california-nu... (in california)
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Another way of phrasing it would be: it ensures that things which are truly important to society are available at low prices. Either way, the corollary still is that roughly, the more a job is paid, the less value to society it provides. There are exceptions of course, but I find it to be a pretty decent heuristic.

by ssivark 10y ago

creshal 10y ago

I wasn't under the impression that we have an over-supply of nurses, firefighters and teachers. More a supply shortage of skilled personnel in either branch because the pay is too low.

TeMPOraL 10y ago
It's a feedback loop - the better the pay is, the more people are after it, which lowers the pay, and so forth. This loop tends to be more disrupted in highly regulated fields (like healthcare), but there are other factors too. For instance, in my country, an important reason for the shortage of doctors and nurses is simply that they can find a better pay and more humane working conditions abroad, and so they emigrate.
- tombone12 10y ago
  Except that in advanced economies most people are not primarily motivated by potential future income when "choosing" their profession, an many people do not consider it much at all (just look at people choosing to study literature instead of business admin). Some might say future income is their main motivation but are just irrationally motivating a choice done on some other basis (the starving artist dreaming of making it big). Even in more traditional economies, the son of a smith "chooses" to be a smith more out of filial duty than because its a job he has good potential to earn money with. Another reason is that he is too poor to change profession, and so does not change it despite there being a more lucrative opportunities.
Domenic_S 10y ago
Nurses are a bad example - they make crazy good money and are unionized.
- AstralStorm 10y ago
  In some countries that aren't in Europe? (well, they are unionised too)
  - Domenic_S 10y ago
    Yes. I have several friends who are nurses, all of whom made around $100k right out of nursing school (more or less depending on proximity to a large city). Here's their union: http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/site/entry/california-nurses-association http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/site/entry/california-nu... (in california)

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Another way of phrasing it would be: it ensures that things which are truly important to society are available at low prices. Either way, the corollary still is that roughly, the more a job is paid, the less value to society it provides. There are exceptions of course, but I find it to be a pretty decent heuristic.