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> but the union also suggests that making it easier to refuse unpleasant jobs may create inflationary bottlenecks. Shitty jobs being valued higher in monetary
by stuaxo 10y ago
> but the union also suggests that making it easier to refuse unpleasant jobs may create inflationary bottlenecks.
Shitty jobs being valued higher in monetary terms doesn't sound like the worst outcome I can think of.
- sharemywin 10y agoI think it's tricky. If prices go up then demand drops. So businesses have to adjust to make things work. So late hours, early hours will be dropped so Revenue/Employee is large enough to be profitable. more self check out lines at groceries.
- ma2rten 10y agoOr the wages go up for these kinds of jobs, leading to inflation, meaning basic income will not be enough to survive.
- mrfusion 10y agoIt would only lead to inflation if those increased wages were paid via increasing the money supply.
- deelowe 10y agoHuh? Increasing wages doesn't cause inflation.
- criddell 10y agoIt can. It depends on the source of the money. If the government just prints more money to increase everybody's bottom line, then it would be an inflationary pressure for sure.
- deelowe 10y agoNot really. In the situation you've described, the printing of money is what causes inflation. Wages may change as a result of that, but then again, they may not. What happens with wages depends on other economic factors.
- criddell 10y ago> the printing of money is what causes inflation Not really. Demand outstripping supply is what causes inflation.
- deelowe 10y agoFair enough.
- sharemywin 10y agoAnd if someone chooses to work less supply is constrained = UBI. if someone chooses to work the same demand goes up = UBI. either way demand is increasing and supply is decreasing. leading to higher prices.
- criddell 10y agoExcept when people are working less because robots are doing the job. Now people are working less and the supply is unchanged.
- logfromblammo 10y agoCurrency is the lubricant for the trade economy, not the fuel for its engine. You cannot create more goods and services by printing more money. In general, a person that holds more currency reserves exerts greater command over future production. So by continually taking money away from rich people and giving it to poor people, in the long run, your economy will tend to produce more of the things poor people want, and less of the things rich people want. Inflation will be a big problem for UBI at first, but prices should eventually stabilize--perhaps after 20 years have passed. Good luck protecting such a system politically for that long, though. In my opinion, you really can't force a work-for-pay, pay-for-goods economy to support a welfare state. It just immediately routes around the damage. You have to establish a parallel work-by-command, goods-by-rationing economy. That's a whole lot easier to do with robotic workers performing all the difficult and nasty work. It might not collapse due to corruption and shortages this time around. Maybe.
- simonh 10y agoIf BI leads to near-full employment, by eliminating poverty traps and subsidizing unskilled jobs, then that's not necessarily a problem. BI doesn't mean entirely dropping all other forms of contingent social support, such as child care allowances, pensions and disability benefits, so if people genuinely have a reason they cannot work that can still be covered.
- staticautomatic 10y agoIt's not necessarily true with respect to jobs that if the price goes up, demand drops.
- markhahn 10y agothe price-demand relation is a curve (which can be nearly flat), not a simple inverse function.
- iaw 10y ago> If prices go up then demand drops That is not a true statement in Economics. Price is a result of the supply & demand functions, the scenario you're thinking of is a reduction in supply with unchanged demand leading to an increase in price. We really don't know if that increase in price will be large or not without more data.
- CPLX 10y agoThose of us with an academic background in economics call this a change in the quantity demanded. That said, outside of a jargon context the way the word is used here is totally fine and understandable.
- the-dude 10y agoIf a side-effect of UBI is the retreat of the 24/7 economy, it would be a plus.
- prostoalex 10y agoIf government revenues are collected mainly from personal income taxes, such retreat would signal a lower UBI check next month.
- Chris2048 10y ago> If prices go up then demand drops demand exists at different price points. Demand will drop, but I think this represents persistent demand. This is a good thing. I demand disappears at a certain cost, maybe it's not really viable? e.g. Is there a point at which we'd no longer to pay for a garbage man, deep-sea fisherman or sewage worker? If yes, maybe we don't really need these jobs. If no, (or the point is high) then maybe these jobs should be higher paid.
- prostoalex 10y agoIn retail this creates an effect of employment driven only by high margins. Shopping center consisting of Whole Foods, Neiman Marcus and organic pour-over coffee shop will survive, small corner bodega selling food and various odds-and-ends will not. This does create additional employment for economists studying origins and dynamics of "food deserts", though.
- guard-of-terra 10y ago- Remove zoning restrictions. - Make it easy for individual enterpreneurs to open small shops. This ought to help. Small corner bodega will survive if operated by its owner.