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Ask BadEconomics: Midweek Discussion Thread, 26 August 2015 (self.badeconomics)

AutoModerator[M] が 投稿 - stickied post

Welcome to the midweek discussion thread

Where you can ask any questions you have for the subscribers. Ever wonder if our team of pompous economists will mock you for an idea you've had about markets and the economy? Wondering if you are able to prax the answer?

"Is XXX bad economics?"

And also chat about any bad (or good) economic events. Remember to use the NP posts and whatnot.

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トップ新着論争中古い順Q&A

[–]prillin101Fiat currency has a 27 year lifespan 2ポイント3ポイント  (6子コメント)

Question- How come zero zoning laws worked in Tokyo but not Houston?

[–]CutlasssI am the Lord your Gold 0ポイント1ポイント  (3子コメント)

Can you explain better what you're asking and the context of it? What do you mean by working or not working?

[–]prillin101Fiat currency has a 27 year lifespan 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

That's a good question. I was linked a paper by someone on this subreddit about it but I can't seem to find it, I think it had to do with the sprawl and wasted land.

[–]CutlasssI am the Lord your Gold 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

OK, not knowing a lot about the subject, the question is what do you consider working or not working? If you mean why does Tokyo build a lot of high density tall buildings and Houston a lot of sprawl, then the basics is that land is at a high premium in Tokyo. Japan is a nation which is very densely settled in the areas which are appropriate for that, and much of the area is no appropriate for that. So cities tend to be big and dense. High fuel costs mean that long commutes are undesirable. Land is limited. Populations are large. If it's not feasible to build out, you build up.

In Houston land is cheap, fuel is cheap, population densities are low. It's cheap to build out instead of up. So long as the government is willing to pave ever more miles of road, sprawl continues. Many Americans prefer having single family homes, and are willing to pay the price of commuting to get them.

Japan doesn't have no building codes. They in fact have very stringent building codes. But a quick search seems to indicate that they are less concerned with what you build than how you build it. Seems like a lot of restrictions on single family homes, but large buildings mainly need to meet the construction codes, which since that is earthquake resistance, is not a small hurdle. Houston seems to be relying more on contractual zoning restrictions, not a wild west lack of any zoning. So if you own property in Houston, you still can't do any damned thing you want with it. But rather than being because of zoning restrictions, it's because your deed to the land has contractual obligations attached, and the government enforces them.

[–]prillin101Fiat currency has a 27 year lifespan 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I see, thanks for the answer :)

[–]Tiakoneo-mercantilist 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Didn't I answer this one?

[–]prillin101Fiat currency has a 27 year lifespan 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah, but I was preferring a bit more descriptive answer :P

[–]prillin101Fiat currency has a 27 year lifespan 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

haha I got here first.

Sticky comes in, sticky comes out- economists can't explain that.

[–]urnbabyurnNeoPanglossian 1ポイント2ポイント  (2子コメント)

Well my little ELS spat/meltdown this week has made it to subredditdrama...

[–]CutlasssI am the Lord your Gold 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

linky?

[–]somegurkWhy doesn't modern medicine use more leaches? 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Here you go. Or wait did you want the badecon thread?

[–]urnbabyurnNeoPanglossian 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks, Dudley

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/26/feds-dudley-talks-economy-mum-on-markets-and-policy.html?trknav=homestack:topnews:1

[–]TychoTiberiusKeynes never died, he just changed his name to Satoshi. 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

What is with that catapultation guy running around BE arguing with everyone about the automation dystopia? He's been at it for months and no matter how many people debunk his arguments he just keeps repeating the same points.

[–]Kai_Daigoji 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

But you see, horses have comparative advantage, just like humans. So humans really are horses.

[–]cuttifer 0ポイント1ポイント  (3子コメント)

Taken from this guy's list, number 3 in employment.

Employers who pay employees such low wage that those employees have to depend on benefits and public assistance to survive should be hit with a "pay-back" fine. Essentially take some of their profits back to fund the programs they're utilising to run their business (e.g. Walmart). Companies without profits won't get fined.

Has any work been done on anything like this?

[–]prillin101Fiat currency has a 27 year lifespan 1ポイント2ポイント  (2子コメント)

No, but the outcome would just be higher prices.

[–]say_wot_againConfirmed for Google bigwig 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

It looks like it has all the drawbacks of a minimum wage without any of the benefits (except maybe being better targeted).

[–]prillin101Fiat currency has a 27 year lifespan 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah, the livelihoods of the people don't really increase but everyone suffers from the high prices.

[–]CatFortuneにゃんぱす! 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

So if you caught one of my comments in the last discussion thread, you might have noticed I’ve been rapidly gathering music to listen to on Apple Music. Unfortunately, the J-Music I’d like to get, based on music featured in the Japanese animes I watch, largely is unavailable on the U.S. iTunes store; I’d have to do some workaround by buying on the Japanese store somehow. I’ll probably just buy CDs, but whatever.

My question is this: What are the potential effects of the TPP agreement on my ability to legally obtain music from Japan through places like the iTunes store, based on what has leaked from the negotiating documents and what these trade deals generally include about IP laws. I’m aware that it’s not good for people who want to steal music, but I’m not interested in that. Someone over in /r/legaladvice told me that in general it’s not very propitious for your sales since it would cost a lot to market, just to have people not want to listen to foreign languages in music. He said it was good for non IP products and IP products that can be modified for the market, the example he used being harlequin romance novels that move back and forth between borders.

But that’s just one guy’s opinion on the Internet. I want to hear MORE guys’ opinions on the Internet. So what do you think? And is there anything interesting to note about the economics of “world music,” and if Japan’s output in particular differs in how it is exported to the U.S.?

[–]Tiakoneo-mercantilist 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

THE SKY IS FALLING THE SKY IS FALLING

[–]say_wot_againConfirmed for Google bigwig 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

BTFD

[–]WorldOfthisLord 0ポイント1ポイント  (5子コメント)

How does market socialism differ from garden variety socialism, and is it still badeconomics? If so, why?

[–]CutlasssI am the Lord your Gold 1ポイント2ポイント  (4子コメント)

Socialism implies some form of public (or worker) ownership of the means of production. So you could do that with the individual firms independently operated, or you could do so with the firms politically controlled. If they were independently operated in a market environment then they'd have to work a lot more like privately owned firms.

[–]WorldOfthisLord 0ポイント1ポイント  (3子コメント)

In what way would they have to work like privately owned firms?

[–]somegurkWhy doesn't modern medicine use more leaches? 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Presumably by still needing to compete on markets and not go out of business.

[–]WorldOfthisLord 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

That does make sense, yes. Are there any problems with it? Does it have the same pitfalls as other socialist systems?

[–]CutlasssI am the Lord your Gold 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Firms base their production on quantities demanded and prices. If they sell out, or if prices are going up, they produce more. If a competitors product is getting more sales, they look at the differences and try to match or beat the differences. If sales are falling, they cut prices or improve quality, or just produce less.

When Adam Smith talked about the 'invisible hand', he wasn't talking about anything mystical. Economists today talk about prices and signalling. Essentially, firms respond to the information which is available to them, and they change what they are doing as the information they get changes. No one is trying to set what the market does, they are all just responding to the market by setting what the firm does. And if there are enough individual competing firms doing this, then that's the invisible hand in action.

Planning, considered the Soviet model, tells whole industries what they are expected to produce. And doesn't really respond to market demand at all. Or, to the extent that they do, only very poorly and with great time lags.

If you had a market socialism which had enough competing firms in each industry and each firm was required to be self managed and make a profit on it's own or fail, then the outcome wouldn't be as greatly different from a market capitalism economy as it would be from a planned socialist economy. There would still be differences, just not as much.

[–]irondeepbicycleI got 99 problems but technological unemployment ain't one 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Have a feeling a flippant, quick comment I typed out half asleep this morning in /r/politicaldiscussion is going to come back to haunt me. It got more attention than I anticipated and I really didn't argue my position well.

[–]besttrousers"Then again, I have pegged you for a Neoclassical/Austrian." 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

If people are rude to you, won't reddit shut down again?