3 ms·
The problem with things like energy that are almost a necessity for modern life is that some individuals cannot afford it, not that "the economy" taken as a who
by cool_dude85 5y ago
The problem with things like energy that are almost a necessity for modern life is that some individuals cannot afford it, not that "the economy" taken as a whole cannot.
Let's say 5% of Iran's GDP is spent on energy. Not sure what the number is, but whatever. A big chunk but affordable for the economy as a whole. At the market price, maybe 10% of people cannot afford to consume enough energy to meet the necessities of modern life - cooking, not freezing to death, using transportation. If you don't want these 10% of people to be shut off from modern society, you need to subsidize somehow.
- conanbatt 5y agoIt would be better to give the money to the people and they can choose to spend it on electricity or something else. Subsidizing electricity is a distortion.
- caf 5y agoIsn't that just going to bid up the prices for everything else? Historically, subsidising electricity has worked fairly efficiently, because it wasn't possible to effectively store and re-sell or export it.
- conanbatt 5y ago1. No 2. It has always worked the same: people arbitrage the subsidy by doing energy inefficient labor. Bitcoin mining is just a more efficient arbitrage mechanism.