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> The standard rebuttal seems to be "are corporations greedier today than five years ago" and the likely answer seems to be no. Does a dog become more greedy f

> The standard rebuttal seems to be "are corporations greedier today than five years ago" and the likely answer seems to be no. Does a dog become more greedy for food on the table when you turn your back? A "no" answer doesn't disprove the theory because the theory is only arguing (among other things) that companies are taking advantage of an opportunity that didn't exist 5 years ago, which is consumer expectations of rising prices.

jldugger 3y ago
But in terms of causation, "greed" isn't a great answer, nor curing it great a policy solution.
- bb88 3y ago
  Greed through normal means, ie, creating a product or creating new efficiencies in the market is great. Greed through fraud, market manipulation, etc is bad.
- danaris 3y ago
  I don't think anyone's suggesting that the solution is to attempt to cure greed. Indeed, everything I've seen about this seems to be focusing more on acknowledging that these companies are greedy, and will use any opportunity to enrich themselves at everyone else's expense (and, often, at their future expense—short-term thinking is a big part of it too). Once we acknowledge that, we can work on ways to counteract its effects, and prevent the worst excesses that the greed would otherwise bring.
  - jldugger 3y ago
    Well, the only policy I've seen on this front is windfall taxation, which is a kind of "heads the state wins, tails the company loses" dick move that only makes sense if your goal is to punish greed. Strategically it is a mistake, and will encourage profit hiding ala Amazon's preAWS days. We're all better off ensuring there are so many companies bidding up wages and products competing on price that margins decline. The good news is that recent data shows that margins are already declining[1]. https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
- enragedcacti 3y ago
  I agree with you, as do many of the experts who are using different terms to refer to the theory. The underlying theory isn't defined by the term and using some measure of greed as proof one way or the other would be a mistake.

jldugger 3y ago

But in terms of causation, "greed" isn't a great answer, nor curing it great a policy solution.

bb88 3y ago
Greed through normal means, ie, creating a product or creating new efficiencies in the market is great. Greed through fraud, market manipulation, etc is bad.
danaris 3y ago
I don't think anyone's suggesting that the solution is to attempt to cure greed. Indeed, everything I've seen about this seems to be focusing more on acknowledging that these companies are greedy, and will use any opportunity to enrich themselves at everyone else's expense (and, often, at their future expense—short-term thinking is a big part of it too). Once we acknowledge that, we can work on ways to counteract its effects, and prevent the worst excesses that the greed would otherwise bring.
- jldugger 3y ago
  Well, the only policy I've seen on this front is windfall taxation, which is a kind of "heads the state wins, tails the company loses" dick move that only makes sense if your goal is to punish greed. Strategically it is a mistake, and will encourage profit hiding ala Amazon's preAWS days. We're all better off ensuring there are so many companies bidding up wages and products competing on price that margins decline. The good news is that recent data shows that margins are already declining[1]. https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf
enragedcacti 3y ago
I agree with you, as do many of the experts who are using different terms to refer to the theory. The underlying theory isn't defined by the term and using some measure of greed as proof one way or the other would be a mistake.