5 ms·

Price and value are two different things. Looks like quizzes are valuable to BuzzFeed, if the gist of the article is true. It doesn't necessarily follow that

Price and value are two different things. Looks like quizzes are valuable to BuzzFeed, if the gist of the article is true. It doesn't necessarily follow that the price of a quiz should go up. The price of a quiz depends on the supply of and demand for quizzes. This quizmaker may be able to charge a premium - certainly the price will be non-zero - but it's unlikely to reflect the value it adds to BuzzFeed. (This fundamental disconnect between price and value is what drives the greater returns to capital vs returns to labour. Labour competes with other labour; capital captures the difference in the cost of labour and the value created by labour. And the whole system is set up to tax labour instead of capital, because labour isn't very mobile, while capital is global.)

devereaux 8y ago
This reads like a Marxist analysis. Let's focus on the biggest flaws in the reasoning > Labour competes with other labour And consequently, capital competes with other capital. And in this day and age, it's not expensive to create a website. Assuming she's a world genius at making quizzes, all she needs in a domain name + some viral marketing, then slap ads on top on that. Some extra content would help, to drive visitors. But considering how people thrive on just doing quizzes, her MVP may not even need anything besides the quizzes. > labour isn't very mobile, while capital is global The $ I spend on mechanical turk and the online contractors I hire when I need them say otherwise. > capital captures the difference in the cost of labour and the value created by labour. No, factors of production are paid at their marginal productivity. Capital without labor usually can't produce much. When labor is scarce and highly productive (software engineering), it commends high prices. I agree with you that writing quizzes seems simple, and a skill that could easily be learned by anyone. However, she has written thousands of them. The article says she was #5 of BF. There are not many people who do that. Let's take another example: anyone can play basketball. But it takes some special skills to score while a team of highly motivated, trained and paid professionals try to prevent you from scoring. If you keep succeeding, this is what commends a high wage - even if anyone can play basketball.
- rfrey 8y ago
  You wrongly say the parent (which is a straight-ahead reminder of supply and demand, plus some interesting implications springing from tax policy), and then counter with an argument which is even closer to Marxism. (Although Marx would roll his eyes at the idea that pricing was based on the skill of the producer relative to her peers, and divorced from demand for the good.)
Y_Y 8y ago
This is called "consumer surplus" generally. Since quizzes are valuable to BuzzFeed they might be willing to pay well for them, but it turns out that competition between quizmakers had pushed the price down near zero. Lucky for BuzzFeed eh?

devereaux 8y ago

This reads like a Marxist analysis. Let's focus on the biggest flaws in the reasoning > Labour competes with other labour And consequently, capital competes with other capital. And in this day and age, it's not expensive to create a website. Assuming she's a world genius at making quizzes, all she needs in a domain name + some viral marketing, then slap ads on top on that. Some extra content would help, to drive visitors. But considering how people thrive on just doing quizzes, her MVP may not even need anything besides the quizzes. > labour isn't very mobile, while capital is global The $ I spend on mechanical turk and the online contractors I hire when I need them say otherwise. > capital captures the difference in the cost of labour and the value created by labour. No, factors of production are paid at their marginal productivity. Capital without labor usually can't produce much. When labor is scarce and highly productive (software engineering), it commends high prices. I agree with you that writing quizzes seems simple, and a skill that could easily be learned by anyone. However, she has written thousands of them. The article says she was #5 of BF. There are not many people who do that. Let's take another example: anyone can play basketball. But it takes some special skills to score while a team of highly motivated, trained and paid professionals try to prevent you from scoring. If you keep succeeding, this is what commends a high wage - even if anyone can play basketball.

rfrey 8y ago
You wrongly say the parent (which is a straight-ahead reminder of supply and demand, plus some interesting implications springing from tax policy), and then counter with an argument which is even closer to Marxism. (Although Marx would roll his eyes at the idea that pricing was based on the skill of the producer relative to her peers, and divorced from demand for the good.)

Y_Y 8y ago

This is called "consumer surplus" generally. Since quizzes are valuable to BuzzFeed they might be willing to pay well for them, but it turns out that competition between quizmakers had pushed the price down near zero. Lucky for BuzzFeed eh?