by Noah Smith & Brad DeLong: Key insights: Hexapodia!, of course. Banishing extreme poverty—which we have not done—is not a victory, but would, rather, be the ending of a long defeat. Jason Hickel...
The only way one can say that 2/3 of the world lives on $10 a day is to not include non-monetary gains and assets. Instead one has to include the value of arable land, sunshine, water in various forms, edible food in various forms. And then intangibles, including family and friends, and the value obtained from knowledge and tradition. Rich person in rich country may only have few friends so they need expensive electronics and high speed internet connection...and maybe even that isn't very complete. Internet and electronics aren't needed for survival at any level...to wit humanity did without for tens of thousands of years Meanwhile rich person in rich country also has to deal with many negatives, crowding, stress, evil employers and others. One really has to count everything to make a valid comparison. In that complete comparison, rich lives may be found very wanting.
2 very comfortable academic economists discussing the distribution of deckchairs on teh Titanic. Has the stowage class now got a place to sit? Has ripping out the hull plates to create more luxurious deckchairs been good and have the stowage class got access to these better deckchairs?
No discussion about the Titanic is heading for an iceberg and will sink, probably even faster as the hull plates are being removed.
The only way one can say that 2/3 of the world lives on $10 a day is to not include non-monetary gains and assets. Instead one has to include the value of arable land, sunshine, water in various forms, edible food in various forms. And then intangibles, including family and friends, and the value obtained from knowledge and tradition. Rich person in rich country may only have few friends so they need expensive electronics and high speed internet connection...and maybe even that isn't very complete. Internet and electronics aren't needed for survival at any level...to wit humanity did without for tens of thousands of years Meanwhile rich person in rich country also has to deal with many negatives, crowding, stress, evil employers and others. One really has to count everything to make a valid comparison. In that complete comparison, rich lives may be found very wanting.
Hexapodia podcast:
2 very comfortable academic economists discussing the distribution of deckchairs on teh Titanic. Has the stowage class now got a place to sit? Has ripping out the hull plates to create more luxurious deckchairs been good and have the stowage class got access to these better deckchairs?
No discussion about the Titanic is heading for an iceberg and will sink, probably even faster as the hull plates are being removed.