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The gig economy has been getting a lot of criticism by politicians who are fixated on "jobs" or who complain about the lack of "protections". But the gig econ
by em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
The gig economy has been getting a lot of criticism by politicians who are fixated on "jobs" or who complain about the lack of "protections". But the gig economy is a very efficient way to allocate resources in a dynamic environment. The fact that the gig economy was widespread hundreds of years ago and today lends credence to its utility.
- ThomPete 9y agoThe problem is that effective allocating of resources might benefit society but not the individual.
- dmurray 9y agoThen politicians should encourage it. The entire reason to have government is to improve society at some cost to individuals.
- TadasPaplauskas 9y agoThere are many valid reasons to have a government - not least of which is protecting individuals from society.
- Fifer82 9y agoI think the problem is that "some cost" and "individuals" pretty much means means batter the poor desperate people.
- sattoshi 9y agoHello there Stalin! Jokes aside, we should throw away the fundemental luxeries of western civilization for the future. We can compromise on them but not to the degree of going back a century or two.
- sattoshi 9y agoShould not* throw away
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoin the long run and on average, benefiting society will benefit individuals.
- sgift 9y ago- In the long run we're all dead - If people die of hunger or sickness in the short term there will be no long run Also: Just-world fallacy.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoFully effective allocating of resources, where "effective" means optimal from the market's point of view, will definitely not benefit society. Quality of life is itself a market inefficiency.
- icebraining 9y agoWhat's the "market's point of view" and how do you determine it?
- grive 9y ago> The gig economy is a very efficient way to allocate humans in a precarious environment. If you remove the bullshit-coating, you're left naked with the sad reality. And as human are not capable of living without shelters and in fear for their future, they become dependent on society to pick-up your failure to provide a proper environment to your employees. You've essentially subsidized your business by deporting the negative externalities of "living wage" and "humane work environment" to the tax-payers. And those new-age capitalists then lecture us on personal responsibility.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoGiggers don't really need employers or employees, since gigs can be performed in an ad-hoc p2p fashion. Also I don't see why you would want taxpayers to subsidize giggers. That would lead to a overabundance of gigging compared to what the market equilibrium would be without subsidies. I've never heard the term "new-age capitalist", but I sortof like the sound of that.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoEach and every employee law that we enjoy now came as a direct response to some of the abuse that happened in the past. Before you decide to tear down all that our great-{n}-gradparents fought and bled for, please take a look at how the realities of work evolved since the industrial revolution. You'll find plenty of evidence that those nice "benefits" of gig economy break down in practice, resulting in lots of suffering.
- vkreso 9y ago> Each and every employee law that we enjoy now came as a direct response to some of the abuse that happened in the past. This is an incredibly strong statement. Back it up please. Law making is anything but an efficient and optimal, noiseless process. There is quite a lot of legislation constructed simply because of the government responding to pressure groups (worker unions, crony businessmen.....) and legislating their narrow interests for everyone.
- collyw 9y ago"The fact that the slave economy was widespread hundreds of years ago and today lends credence to its utility."
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoSlavery built the pyramids. Smallpox existed hundreds of years ago. Nobody's in a hurry to get those back.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoThe slave economy is not prevalent today. That is because ultimately slavery is not terribly utilitarian, since slaves don't make for good employees and consumers.
- williamperiod 9y agoYou're being downvoted unjustly in my book. I come from farmers, and there aren't any more difficult gigs out there if you ask me. Maybe being a lion or gazelle...
- bryanrasmussen 9y agoThe fact that income disparity was widespread hundreds of years ago and today helps lend impetus to the gig economy.
- danmaz74 9y ago> The fact that the gig economy was widespread hundreds of years ago and today lends credence to its utility. Things that were widespread hundreds of years ago include slavery, forced marriage, child labor... does this give credence to those practices?
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoNot necessarily. They would have to be prevalent today. But you would also have to carefully examine the particular reasons to determine if is good in net. Lends credence doesn't necessarily mean that it is a good thing, but rather suggests that there might be positive aspects.