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by pasabagi 2697 days ago
>any increase in productivity is bad because it reduces labor scarcity

Isn't it? Increases in productivity, normally called automation, must reduce labour scarcity unless demand for the product is proportionately increased. There are plenty of sectors where this is exactly what happens, and some where it isn't.
2 comments
tobltobs 2697 days ago
> Increases in productivity, normally called automation

That is a wrong assumption to start with. Inventing the wheel wasn't automation.

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tomrod 2697 days ago
Actually...

Production has three components: capital, labor, and technology. Automation, as I understand it, both improves technology and lowers the cost of capital.

If I recall right, this strand of economic lit is called Total Factor Productivity.[0]

I believe the Wheel falls squarely in the technology bracket.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_factor_productivity

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mediaman 2697 days ago
Inventing the wheel absolutely is automation.

Why would the wheel, which allows the movement of goods with much less labor, be any different in concept than the transistor, which allows e.g. the accounting of a corporation to be done with far fewer accountants?

Or the assembly of a car with robots?

All productivity gains (expressed as production per person-hour) is a result of either (1) advancement in technology or (2) the increased use of existing technology through capital investment or (3) quality of labor (education, training, etc).

The invention of the wheel, the invention of fire, the invention of the steam engine, and the gas engine, the solar cell and the transistor all fall under (1) and the expansion of their use falls under (2).

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llsf 2696 days ago
One could argue that the invention of the wheel is actually automation. Instead of carrying goods on your back down to the river, now put it in a cart, and kick it to roll downhill... It is possibly the most basic automation, it does free human labor with a mechanical mean.
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conanbatt 2696 days ago
"If you wanted to increase the salaries of the lumberjacks, you would only need to pass a law that no axe could ever be sharpened" - Bastiat
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