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Introduce income tax. Use the tax money to build infrastructure that allows for concentrated mega growth which kills off traditional economies and destroys thou

Introduce income tax. Use the tax money to build infrastructure that allows for concentrated mega growth which kills off traditional economies and destroys thousands of years of crafting knowledge, and then introduce increasingly severe policies in order to manage the unexpected side-effects. The new policies create more side-effects and lead to more policies. Repeat Until you have so many laws and taxes are so high that the majority of people can’t compete in the economy because they can’t afford lawyers to navigate the law in the way the entrenched can, so they either start living off the government, or if their mental state didn’t survive the humiliating degradation of the whole process, they live on the street. New policies are introduced etc... The situation can’t continue. How does it end?

BaronSamedi 6y ago
This is an excellent comment. Thinking about laws or policies as dynamic processes with various feedback loops and side-effects offers a better model than the usual static approach. Side-effects are critical, so critical that they often often work against the intended goal. Yet side-effects are almost never mentioned when people advocate for a certain policy. How does it end? Probably with brittle systems that are unable to survive exogenous shocks.
- aeternum 6y ago
  I think this concept could lend to a pretty interesting and unique game. The engine would be a city simulation, the more realistic and complex the better. However rather than build directly, the player would enact policies (laws + regulations) for the city and see how things evolve.
  - BaronSamedi 6y ago
    I would play that. Your comment makes me wonder why policy simulators don't already exist, or maybe they do and I am unaware of them. Such a simulator would have to be able to handle the "cobra effect" which could be quite a challenge. The Cobra effect, by the way, is a great illustration of the problem with static thinking. Problem: too many cobras, Solution: pay a bounty for them, Unintended side-effect: people raise cobras for the bounty so now there are even more cobras.
RestlessMind 6y ago
> The new policies create more side-effects...Repeat Until ... the majority of people can’t compete in the economy ... they either start living off the government, or ...they live on the street. New policies are introduced .. Sorry if I perceived incorrectly, but you are making it sound as if economic system before income tax was all hunky dory and people lived satisfying comfortable lives. From what it seems, system before income tax had much worse lives (on average) than the system after income tax. So can you please clarify if you indeed claim that pre-income tax economic system was superior? If so, any citations?

BaronSamedi 6y ago

This is an excellent comment. Thinking about laws or policies as dynamic processes with various feedback loops and side-effects offers a better model than the usual static approach. Side-effects are critical, so critical that they often often work against the intended goal. Yet side-effects are almost never mentioned when people advocate for a certain policy. How does it end? Probably with brittle systems that are unable to survive exogenous shocks.

aeternum 6y ago
I think this concept could lend to a pretty interesting and unique game. The engine would be a city simulation, the more realistic and complex the better. However rather than build directly, the player would enact policies (laws + regulations) for the city and see how things evolve.
- BaronSamedi 6y ago
  I would play that. Your comment makes me wonder why policy simulators don't already exist, or maybe they do and I am unaware of them. Such a simulator would have to be able to handle the "cobra effect" which could be quite a challenge. The Cobra effect, by the way, is a great illustration of the problem with static thinking. Problem: too many cobras, Solution: pay a bounty for them, Unintended side-effect: people raise cobras for the bounty so now there are even more cobras.

RestlessMind 6y ago

> The new policies create more side-effects...Repeat Until ... the majority of people can’t compete in the economy ... they either start living off the government, or ...they live on the street. New policies are introduced .. Sorry if I perceived incorrectly, but you are making it sound as if economic system before income tax was all hunky dory and people lived satisfying comfortable lives. From what it seems, system before income tax had much worse lives (on average) than the system after income tax. So can you please clarify if you indeed claim that pre-income tax economic system was superior? If so, any citations?