> "What Ricardo proved mathematically, is that if one country has simply a comparative advantage (not even an absolute one), it still is in everyone’s best interest to embrace specialization and free trade. [...] It is quite bizarre to see modern day politicians throw caution to the wind and ignore these fundamental tenants of economic science."<p>Good old mathematical proof with spherical cows in a frictionless vacuum. Should be complemented with some empiricism. From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage#Criticism" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage#Criticis...</a>: "none of the world's most successful trading regions, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and now mainland China, reached their current status by adopting neoliberal trading rules."
>> The second, and less discussed, requirement is for the two parties that should trade to be aware of one another’s goods or services.<p>>> Fortunately, the rise of the Internet, and specifically Internet marketplace models, act as accelerants to the productivity benefits of the division of labour AND comparative advantage by reducing information asymmetry and increasing the likelihood of a perfect match with regard to the exchange of goods or services.<p>That is false. Maybe it was the case at the beginning, but now with a small number of big gatekeepers like Google, Amazon and Facebook, the internet actually increases information asymmetry. Mostly by concentrating user attention to a small number of companies/products and thereby encouraging herd mentality and distracting users away from real value which would make their lives better.
Does anyone else ever get the feeling that popular terms & phrases for this subject, e.g. "unlock value", strike that perfect balance of vaguery and reverence as to evoke a cargo cult?
the "money from nowhere" phrase is a bit disingenious. in many cases, money is being redirected from an old industry into the new marketplace--from taxis to uber, from hotels to airbnb, from recruiters to indeed, etc. sure, there is some incremental added value that's "new money", but unless it also generates new jobs to employ the un-/under-employed, that money is being funneled from another part of the economy (like being extracted from family savings or materialized through loans). and information asymmetries aren't being destroyed, so much as concentrated in the marketplace to extract rents (e.g., uber's opaque pricing).<p>and while free trade "works" in a homogenous steady-state global economy, we're not there yet. there are a lot of dynamics (i.e., economic, social and political disparities) to work through before that happens.
Here's one that I'd like to do but lack the time/commitment:<p>Movie theaters, movies, moviegoers... Connect them on a platform that accepts data about customers' available movie nights and preferences, and then allocates movies and moviegoers to available theaters. As a user, you'd enter the dates and times you want to see a movie, the theaters you prefer, and which movies you want to see, and the system presents you with a menu of options.<p>Theater owners would get full(er) houses; movie studios could get feedback about audience preferences; and it would make it much easier to go see the movies you want. Neat, eh?
Since it's Friday, how about a little devil's advocate. Does anyone here ever think about alternative economic systems similar to getting rid of money, like what the Federation does on Star Trek? Why hasn't an online group (similar to a utopia) formed where members contribute a portion of their incomes and receive a UBI? A single unicorn could pay everyone to work on unrelated projects and solve real global problems.<p>I'm not really driven by money. I work more for the betterment of society, to help important projects that could change the world, to help others start their careers, and for self-actualization, or to not have to work someday, things like that. If I had solar panels on my roof and a little robotic hydroponic garden in my backyard, there's not a whole lot else I would need from the world. I might consider putting the bulk of my income into a pool for everyone if it meant that I could finally be left alone to research and invent on my own and make a larger contribution to society than the narrow goals that capitalism has for my skills.
i agree with the general trend that new platforms drive new growth, which is great. but they don't necessarily work out for the participants in the platforms, and in fact the very platforms themselves can be highly exploitative depending on how people engage with them.<p>example: uber is a marketplace for transferring illiquid wealth assets from drivers to uber itself, along with a fraction of the revenues from each ride. put differently, uber may be making its drivers poorer in an abstract way which they may not understand because they are being paid for the labor required to extract value from their vehicle.<p>another example: freelancing platforms. everyone knows that these platforms depress wages for the freelancers and are a race to the bottom. businesses can grow more because labor costs less on the platform than off of the platform, and they can expect the platform to handle the infrastructure of paying and managing the labor to an extent. but freelancers on the platform could almost certainly make more money if they weren't on the platform because then they wouldn't be competing with as many others for a given opportunity. sure, some people make it work. but on average, people earn far less and expectations are much higher.