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> Side note: why is deflation expected and approved of in computers and electronics but not healthcare or higher education? That's... not deflation? It's liter

> Side note: why is deflation expected and approved of in computers and electronics but not healthcare or higher education? That's... not deflation? It's literally building wealth. Cheaper computers means more people can afford them/ people can afford more of them. This is a good thing! Cheaper healthcare (or higher ed) would also be a good thing. But for it to be a good thing, you would have to make it objectively easier for more people to access the same-or-better-quality healthcare or higher ed! If by "deflation" here you simply mean "there's the same overall quality and quantity of higher ed, but older people (who had time to hoard money) can access it a lot easier, to the detriment of young people"... that would clearly be a bad thing. Money is not like that, though. There's no economic advantage to be gained from people hoarding money - they're supposed to be a medium of exchange. If money increases value, you're not spending or investing them, which means less economic activity, hence less wealth for everyone. Money is just a vehicle, never an end-goal. Tl;dr: wealth is, largely speaking, "more and better stuff for everyone!". More and better computers, electronics, higher ed, healthcare. And money, too, I guess? Except that "more money" is typically associated with "inflation" - which shows you that money doesn't really count, it's just a vehicle.

spurgu 5y ago
> That's... not deflation? Isn't inflation/deflation about purchasing power? I.e. how much housing you can buy for a month's salary (for example), how much computing power, how much food you can buy? If you hoard money you can buy more computing power down the line. Isn't that "deflationary"? While if you hoard money and buy food down the line you'd get less of it. So food would be "inflationary".
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  > Isn't inflation/deflation about purchasing power? No, that is the exact opposite of inflation/deflation. Inflation/deflation are about nominal prices of goods and services. If you want to talk about the price of a good in terms of a real quantity, then that is not measured by inflation or deflation and you need to specify what your measuring stick is, whether ounces of gold, or gallons of gasoline, or a median hourly wage in a specific labor market. There is one special term, called "real" prices, where the measuring stick is a weighted consumption basket, but that too is not going to represent purchasing power, which suggests deflating by either household income, or wages, or wealth.

spurgu 5y ago

> That's... not deflation? Isn't inflation/deflation about purchasing power? I.e. how much housing you can buy for a month's salary (for example), how much computing power, how much food you can buy? If you hoard money you can buy more computing power down the line. Isn't that "deflationary"? While if you hoard money and buy food down the line you'd get less of it. So food would be "inflationary".

rsj_hn 5y ago
> Isn't inflation/deflation about purchasing power? No, that is the exact opposite of inflation/deflation. Inflation/deflation are about nominal prices of goods and services. If you want to talk about the price of a good in terms of a real quantity, then that is not measured by inflation or deflation and you need to specify what your measuring stick is, whether ounces of gold, or gallons of gasoline, or a median hourly wage in a specific labor market. There is one special term, called "real" prices, where the measuring stick is a weighted consumption basket, but that too is not going to represent purchasing power, which suggests deflating by either household income, or wages, or wealth.