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A little off-topic but I’ve been thinking about technological progress and its impact on inflation recently. In 2018 Jay Powell partly blamed Amazon (and others
by Pandabob 6y ago
A little off-topic but I’ve been thinking about technological progress and its impact on inflation recently. In 2018 Jay Powell partly blamed Amazon (and others) for pushing prices down so much that the fed wasn’t able to hit its inflation targets [0]. Isn’t Sam’s vision also inherently deflationary? If consumer prices keep dropping due to technological progress, shouldn’t we keep printing money?
I’m still a little sceptical of Sam’s vision coming to pass, but if it does, it’ll have some weird consequences on monetary policy.
[0]: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/new-fed-chairman-says-amazon-helped-keep-inflation-low.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/new-fed-chairman-says-amazon...
- mrkramer 6y agoI was thinking the same how deflation is good for society? Reducing costs of production, increasing efficiency and having decent market competition brings prices down and technological progress enables all of that. Not anytime soon prices will be so low that all people can afford everything they want. Luxury goods and premium pricing are here to stay. Maybe he was referring to Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek [1]. Post-scarcity moneyless society. Here is excerpt from Wikipedia: "The third chapter talks about the replicator, the machine that makes Star Trek's post-scarcity possible. Post-scarcity's meaning is the infinite social wealth. The replicator is as a metaphor for automation, and an endpoint of the industrial revolution. Crucially, in the Star Trek's society it and its produces are public good." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekonomics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekonomics