| > the best way to allocate resources i think the word that jumps out at me here is "best". what does this mean? is there an absolute agreed-upon best, or is best relative? in this situation (re: ride-share companies), i think it's entirely possible that there are overall market wins -- more money ends up circulating -- but that there are local losers, specifically the employees of these companies, and local winners -- the management, investors, and employees of these companies -- and that the group of losers actually outnumbers the winners. some folks put the rideshare-using public into the group of winners, which i think is debatable. either way, i think it should be permissible to defend the group that's least able to defend itself -- rideshare drivers who are doing gig work to make ends meet -- even if that results in "suboptimal" global outcomes. i think this debate broadly parallels the overall debate in neoliberal economics. for instance, yes, trade makes everyone better off on average, but in practice it makes some folks (the 1%) much, much better off, and impoverishes broad groups of other people. i think i heard from this podcast:
https://www.vox.com/2020/7/17/21327166/american-compass-the-... the term "economic piety" -- the naive idea that by growing the pie, everyone becomes better off. this hasn't proved to be true in practice, and some economists are beginning to regard the idea with a bit of embarrassment. |
My point is that instead of inspecting every economic relationship for "winners" and "losers", we should tax the winners and support the losers at a global level.