4 ms·
But in terms of causation, "greed" isn't a great answer, nor curing it great a policy solution.
by jldugger 3y ago
But in terms of causation, "greed" isn't a great answer, nor curing it great a policy solution.
- bb88 3y agoGreed 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 agoI 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 agoWell, 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 agoI 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.