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Yeah, so here's the problem. We now, more than ever, have a key metric for measuring the economy that doesn't really measure the right thing. Just like in ev
by wheelerwj 7y ago
Yeah, so here's the problem. We now, more than ever, have a key metric for measuring the economy that doesn't really measure the right thing. Just like in every other situation, businesses and startups included, this leads to gamification and optimization for that metric.
"Oh, you want more jobs, great! here you go! We'll cut the hours by 1/2 and employee twice as many people!"
Unemployment goes to 0% but so does quality of life. So the real question remains, what are the metrics we really value as a society and what do we need to do in order to optimize for them?
- weberc2 7y agoYou’re right that this one metric doesn’t tell the whole story, but no metric does and they aren’t meant to. Of course you need to look at other metrics besides employment to understand how well your society is doing.
- wheelerwj 7y agoRight, but the point is that not only does this metric not tell the whole story, but that it tells the WRONG story. Unemployment isn't a useful metric anymore.
- weberc2 7y agoPerhaps, but your rationale (“it’s not meaningful if jobs pay half of what they used to”) supports my interpretation (“not the whole story”), not your thesis (“WRONG story”). Correct me if I missed something; haven’t had my coffee yet.
- MuffinFlavored 7y agoWhat’s the metric to use instead? # of households in America + average household income?
- mrfusion 7y agoIt sounds silly but happiness should be the metric. If everyone is happy you presume employment is probably good.
- wheelerwj 7y agohappiness, some equivalent, or some series of metrics that equates to it, yeah. I honestly don't know what it would be (happiness, freedom, life expectancy, etc) but that's the goal.