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The Markets Aren't Alright

benjaminfspector.com · 2,293 words · saved by 2 readers

There is an inherent economic tension between efficiency and equality. Utilitarian models with linear value on consumption often favor extremely high levels of inequality, in which massive capital is invested by a small number of sophisticated entities to increase overall productivity. But the world is more accurately modeled by sublinear utility. (The alternative is not usually considered.) In the Rawlsian extreme -- the min function -- equality is paramount over economic efficiency. The Rawlsian extreme is also a bad model, as the world doesn't wholly revolve around its single unhappiest inhabitant. So, the liberal ideal balances somewhere in the middle, where we justify modest levels of inequality with the overall gains to society they produce, and the exact balance is adjusted through perpetual debate. But implicit in this liberal contract is that the concentration of capital is used to increase the overall surplus. Otherwise, the Marxist comparison of capitalists to dynastic landl

The Markets Aren't Alright me The Kids Markets Aren't Alright Dec 7, 2023 TL;DR: The most profitable ventures too often resemble landlords. There is an inherent economic tension between efficiency and equality. Utilitarian models with linear value on consumption often favor extremely high levels of inequality, in which massive capital is invested by a small number of sophisticated entities to increase overall productivity. But the world is more accurately modeled by sublinear utility. (The alternative is not usually considered.) In the Rawlsian extreme -- the min function -- equality is paramo

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