From: Max More (max@maxmore.com)
Date: Sat Aug 31 2002 - 15:38:33 MDT
At 04:44 PM 8/31/2002 -0400, Ron h wrote:
>In a message dated 8/31/2002 2:06:13 PM Central Standard Time,
>max@maxmore.com writes: I find this extremely hard to believe. Productivity
>growth has increased over the last decade. Even after multiple revisions,
>this trend holds. How do you square that with the above claim?
>
>Max,
> How are you measuring productivity? If in $ Output per Labor Hour
Yes
> I
>would expect that number to increase even as productivity decreased
>dramatically.
Productivity measured how? Obviously you have a different measure in mind
so as to show a divergence. What measure are you thinking of?
Since I no longer consider myself a strict libertarian. one role for
government that I would at least *consider* (still with general skepticism
about govt. interventions) is limited, temporary, and carefully tracked
subsidies for workers displaced from traditionally stable industries in
order to acquire different skills. Since just about all industries may
potentially be disrupted these days, the subsidies would not be the
preserve of a few. Companies often do a fine job of providing training,
which is one reason such a program should be limited. However, if done
right, it could assist a market economy to reallocate human capital (to use
the bloodless language of the economist) more quickly in cases where it is
not clearly in any individual organization's interest to do this, but where
it is in the general interest. In practice, I can think of all kinds of
reasons why this wouldn't work well, at least after the first few years,
but I wouldn't rule it out in principle.
Cheers,
Max
_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
max@maxmore.com or more@extropy.org
http://www.maxmore.com
Strategic Philosopher
President, Extropy Institute. http://www.extropy.org <more@extropy.org>
_______________________________________________________
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