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Households on average certainly seem to outsource more and be capable of less of the core “upkeep” tasks than in the past. Whether it’s cooking, cleaning, laund

by zaroth 8y ago

Households on average certainly seem to outsource more and be capable of less of the core “upkeep” tasks than in the past. Whether it’s cooking, cleaning, laundry, plumbing, electrical, auto, etc. We absolutely lose out on these skills in aggregate, by pulling them from the curriculum, and it’s also not obvious at all that there is less overal economic value to providing some hands-on tradecraft skills (which often require critical thinking and creative problem solving) versus another theoretical academic course. The amount of money an average household can save through doing their own home maintenance and upkeep is substantial, and the opportunity cost is not as high as you might think. These activities often have positive externalities (the additional learning that takes place while doing them, or the opportunity of doing them with the kids), not to mention emotional payback. And the cost of outsourcing these jobs is almost always not tax-deductible, making the true cost of outsourcing nearly double the sticker price.

pas 8y ago
Of course the problem is that at face value those academic classes seem more interesting, seem to have better ROI-for-life, and obviously you are quite right that a lot of people would be better off were they able to do basic upkeep, budgeting, woodwork, plumbing, wiring a socket, or simply knowing how to paint a room, and also you are correct that sometimes these activities lead to insights into problem solving, and some addition to critical thinking skills. But in reality most of school is about developing interpersonal skills and having time to do whatever really interests you, and teaching applied rationality is hard, and only occasional in every class, be it DIY, physics, debate club, or free form project.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Households on average certainly seem to outsource more and be capable of less of the core “upkeep” tasks than in the past. While it's usually thought of on a national level, Ricardian comparative advantage works at the household level, and as markets have less overhead in the form of financial and other (e.g., delay) costs, outsourcing more tasks where the household doesn't have comparative advantage is expected. If you don't want these tasks outsourced, you either need to make a nation of professional woodworkers and seamstresses somehow or, more plausibly, artificially increase transaction costs of outsourcing, e.g., by targeted taxes. > And the cost of outsourcing these jobs is almost always not tax-deductible, making the true cost of outsourcing nearly double the sticker price. That's a bizarre claim. If it's not tax deductible, the cost is exactly the sticker price. If it is tax deductible, it's less than the sticker price by the marginal rate of income tax paid by the purchaser, so even if it weren't unreasonable to treat the tax deductible case as the baseline car, you'd need a 50% marginal income tax rate to make the non-deductible cost the twice the deductible cost. You can get this in the top bracket in CA, but that's a pretty narrow elite.

by zaroth 8y ago

pas 8y ago

Of course the problem is that at face value those academic classes seem more interesting, seem to have better ROI-for-life, and obviously you are quite right that a lot of people would be better off were they able to do basic upkeep, budgeting, woodwork, plumbing, wiring a socket, or simply knowing how to paint a room, and also you are correct that sometimes these activities lead to insights into problem solving, and some addition to critical thinking skills. But in reality most of school is about developing interpersonal skills and having time to do whatever really interests you, and teaching applied rationality is hard, and only occasional in every class, be it DIY, physics, debate club, or free form project.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Households on average certainly seem to outsource more and be capable of less of the core “upkeep” tasks than in the past. While it's usually thought of on a national level, Ricardian comparative advantage works at the household level, and as markets have less overhead in the form of financial and other (e.g., delay) costs, outsourcing more tasks where the household doesn't have comparative advantage is expected. If you don't want these tasks outsourced, you either need to make a nation of professional woodworkers and seamstresses somehow or, more plausibly, artificially increase transaction costs of outsourcing, e.g., by targeted taxes. > And the cost of outsourcing these jobs is almost always not tax-deductible, making the true cost of outsourcing nearly double the sticker price. That's a bizarre claim. If it's not tax deductible, the cost is exactly the sticker price. If it is tax deductible, it's less than the sticker price by the marginal rate of income tax paid by the purchaser, so even if it weren't unreasonable to treat the tax deductible case as the baseline car, you'd need a 50% marginal income tax rate to make the non-deductible cost the twice the deductible cost. You can get this in the top bracket in CA, but that's a pretty narrow elite.