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Let's look at this the other way, everyone gets a 20 % wage cut and we maintain current prices. On the one hand we would have additional demand for labor to do

Let's look at this the other way, everyone gets a 20 % wage cut and we maintain current prices. On the one hand we would have additional demand for labor to do the 20 % of work, on the other hand we would have a 20 % drop in demand, so there might not even be a demand for additional labor pulling wages up. I would expect a relativ shift towards essential goods but I do not see how this could incentivize more automation.

kelnos 3y ago
Or no, we don't do that. Everyone gets the same pay, and prices stay the same. Shareholders see lower returns, but them's the breaks. This idea that we should prioritize dividends and capital appreciation over the happiness and mental health of the masses... it's disgusting.
- deleted 3y ago
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- danbruc 3y ago
  Same prices and same wage does not work, because your wage now only produces 80 % of the products compared to before. If someone is syphoning off 20 % of your labor for nothing, then I am all with you and this should be brought to an end, but I fail to see how working a day less each week could be an effective tool to achieve this.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Everyone gets the same pay, and prices stay the same. Shareholders see lower returns, but them's the breaks This gets attempted once a generation somewhere in the world. The problem is when you devalue capital, it isn’t maintained. The only way your equation balances is with a massive jolt to TFP. There isn’t a free lunch in reducing labour; we must be realistic about the tradeoffs involved.