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Misaligned incentives always cause trouble, scapegoats not withstanding.

• msla 6y ago
  > Misaligned incentives always cause trouble, scapegoats not withstanding. Yes. Exactly. Couldn't have said it better myself. Stepping on a soapbox, I think a certain kind of economics thinking should be introduced to students at a reasonably young age, no later than secondary education, that thinking being "Incentive Analysis" where students are taught to think through where various people's and groups' incentives are, and why it matters. If nothing else, it should clear up fuzzy cliche-based thinking which can be misleading even though it has a kernel of truth: "If you aren't paying, you're the product" is wrong in some very important ways, starting with the fact that if you are paying, you might still be the product. For example: You pay for a service, in effect giving the company money for selling your information to other companies eager to have a line on a high-value paying customer.
  • pferde 6y ago
    Check your faulty logic there. The statement "if A, then B", does not imply "if not A, then not B". There's nothing wrong with accuracy of "If you aren't paying, you're the product".
    • msla 6y ago
      It isn't my faulty logic.