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There's an intriguing exercise in Paul Heyne's "The Economic Way of Thinking" that asks, as a thought experiment, what would happen if a helicopter simply dropp
by mjs 14y ago
There's an intriguing exercise in Paul Heyne's "The Economic Way of Thinking" that asks, as a thought experiment, what would happen if a helicopter simply dropped cash on groups of people that needed it--the thinking being that if people have money, someone will figure out some way to get them the goods and services they need.
(There's obvious security and fairness problems with this method of distributing aid, but if these could be solved somehow, this approach "fixes" some of the problems that afflict traditional approaches, such as the way in which they disrupt existing businesses, and make it difficult for new businesses to sustain themselves.)
- ptaipale 14y agoAs in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Financial_Fable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Financial_Fable A great macroeconomic work by Barks.
- gojomo 14y agoI think that both (a) this is a great idea that would work; and (b) widespread taboos around direct cash aid will delay it from being tried. I doubt its 'security and fairness' problems are worse than traditional 'in-kind' aid to distressed areas. That often winds up controlled by parasitical elites, or is totally mismatched to local needs. A random spray winds up in the hands of anyone who can scramble, and some will reach the very neediest -- perhaps more than via traditional approaches, because local exploiters may be unable to monitor all transfers.