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> Greater and greater value is being generated in the economy due to these increasing efficiencies. This is very unclear and it depends on what measurements yo
by saddlerustle 6y ago
> Greater and greater value is being generated in the economy due to these increasing efficiencies.
This is very unclear and it depends on what measurements you look at. Lots of economists claim we've had historically low productivity growth in the last two decades - eg Total-Factor Productivity growth has been very low (~0.5%/year) every year since ~2005.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoThe little device in everyone’s pocket can do is much that required other people’s time and labor. Purchasing travel, researching real estate markets, checking into a hotel, comparing prices, obtaining product information and reviews, etc. If I need to find something at Home Depot or Target or Lowes, I don’t need a person to help me anymore. I go to their website and it tells me exactly where the item is. All of these little efficiencies add up to me needing fewer other people to help me.
- saddlerustle 6y agoImprovements in consumer technology is arguably offset by lots of areas of the economy becoming less efficient every year. Consider infrastructure, health care and education - those sectors require more labor now to produce the same or less output than they use to.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoDeclining real wages for decades are my evidence that supply curves are ahead of demand curves. I don’t see why education needs more labor, the number of children will be declining for the foreseeable future. More importantly, the buyers of that labor (government) are famously stingy and with budgets already strained with pension and other debt, I doubt they’re going to give up any extra wage gains.
- maerF0x0 6y agonot that we should go back, but it's worth noting that women entering the workforce probably greatly increased the supply side of the equation. Concurrently we're needing less and less people whilst also trying to figure out what to do with all this new supply introduced.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoYes, that was also a huge factor.
- asdff 6y agoAnd yet, people are still helpful. I go to the lowes search bar and draw a total blank. I can describe a part I need to another human, but I sure as hell don't know its archaic catalog name, and will probably buy the wrong part if I order online. As a result, even in a pandemic, all the hardware stores by me have lines wrapped around the parking lot because brick and mortar is just better from a consumer perspective. I've been fleeced buying junk online, from amazon or even less shady places, too many times for whatever price efficiencies online offers to work itself above actually handling the product before you put money down and own it. Running to fedex to print and ship my amazon return is a cost to bear if you have a busy life.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoI know people are helpful. The point is that fewer people can do more.
- sudosysgen 6y agoWhich means increased productivity.
- xiler 6y agoAnother measure is major sector labor productivity (labor inputs vs outputs): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workforce_productivity#/media/File:US_productivity_and_real_wages.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workforce_productivity#/media/...
- samstave 6y agoBut now the economy has shrunk by at least 30% according NPR...
- samstave 6y agoOK cool you brilliant a-hole: tell me the GDP impact of a 30% GDP implosion, not even considering the fact that they are not even stating the actual numbers across a ll industries, which means, the GDP is F* and that the economy is WAY LESS
- samstave 6y agohe deleted his reply.... so it looks like I an=m replyingg to my self