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Forgive my ignorance, but can't it go the other way also? A contrived example... A person has $X that they spend every week at the local town restaurant. The
by cujo 9y ago
Forgive my ignorance, but can't it go the other way also?
A contrived example...
A person has $X that they spend every week at the local town restaurant. They see they can buy a cool new widget from a Chinese vendor (from the article) for $Y. Over the course of the next few weeks, said person spends a little less at the restaurant so as to save up $Y, ultimately purchasing the widget once enough money is saved.
In this example the person is contributing less to the local economy.
- rtpg 9y agofor the local economy there's functionally no difference between giving the money to China or to a reseller at the other side of the country.
- TeMPOraL 9y agos/local economy/national economy/, and the point stands. Though I don't see introducing/enforcing waste as a right way to ensure more money goes to the national economy.
- scribu 9y agoYou're right, it could go both ways. I guess the question then is: do we have a way of predicting which way it will go?
- bearcobra 9y agoIt can, and gets even more complicated when that widget was available locally for $Z and $Y < $Z. Was $Z so much greater than $Y that the person would have never started to save for it? Or did $Y mean they were able to start spending at the restaurant again sooner? How do you calculate the value of the cool new widget once the person has it?
- benchaney 9y agoIn that case the local economy would benefit from the decrease in $Y, which is an example of what GP described, not anything going the other way.
- benchaney 9y agoIn that case the local economy would benefit from the decrease in $Y, which is an example of what GP described, not anything going the other way.