3 ms·

Not changed: Rent-seeking is good for people who collect, and bad for people who pay. What's changed: automation creating value automatically, different from r

• goodpoint 5y ago
  > What's changed: automation creating value automatically, different from rent-seeking. Nothing new. Industrialization in the 19th century was all about automation and created both poverty and inequality for factory workers.
  • simonh 5y ago
    Factory workers were paid several times as much as agricultural labourers, that’s why they went to work in factories. Industrialisation also drastically reduced the cost and increased the quality of manufactured goods including basics like dyed cloth, bread, soap, etc making them much more affordable to people.
    • goodpoint 5y ago
      > Factory workers were paid several times as much as agricultural labourers This generalization is historically false. Please inform yourself.
• jbay808 5y ago
  > What's changed: automation creating value automatically, different from rent-seeking. In today's inflation-targeting macroeconomic framework, automation causes a decrease in the price of goods and labour, which would have a deflationary impact. To prevent structural deflation, interest rates are reduced, which increases the value of assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. So I think automation can also support rent-seeking, although more indirectly.