Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Please ask you questions and I'll try my best to answer. I'll put my bias out there now, I am a social and fiscal conservative. However, unfortunately markets are not free, they are intrinsically asymmetric. Therefore, I believe there is a (limited and balanced) role for government to support a safety net for the vulnerable and to moderate business for the social good. I work in a sector that is trying to reduce market failures by promoting for-profit organisations that reduce barriers to entry for for the poor. I also specialise in economics jargon.
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 Cool Have I become the new Rincewind?!
leicsmac Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Thanks for this. Personally I believe in free market economics, but like you I think that no market in the world is truly free now - big companies are so entangled with government regulation that the average consumer is getting shafted on a regular basis. Do you think it's actually possible to stop or at least inhibit the cartel economics that exist in many essential fields today (such as energy in the UK)? Edit: Is it also possible for a more stable jobs market within businesses to be developed so that many ordinary people are actually able to plan for the future without fear of being made redundant the next time the market crashes?
purpleronnie Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Here's an economist question. Why are economists such wankers?
ADK Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Economics, is that where people use jargon to describe common sense and feel intellectually superior by doing it?
The God Emperor Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Thanks for this. Personally I believe in free market economics, but like you I think that no market in the world is truly free now - big companies are so entangled with government regulation that the average consumer is getting shafted on a regular basis. Do you think it's actually possible to stop or at least inhibit the cartel economics that exist in many essential fields today (such as energy in the UK)? Edit: Is it also possible for a more stable jobs market within businesses to be developed so that many ordinary people are actually able to plan for the future without fear of being made redundant the next time the market crashes? get the government out of the economy. cartels only seem to thrive when their is a government enforcing the rules of the cartel
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 Thanks for this. Personally I believe in free market economics, but like you I think that no market in the world is truly free now - big companies are so entangled with government regulation that the average consumer is getting shafted on a regular basis. Do you think it's actually possible to stop or at least inhibit the cartel economics that exist in many essential fields today (such as energy in the UK)? Edit: Is it also possible for a more stable jobs market within businesses to be developed so that many ordinary people are actually able to plan for the future without fear of being made redundant the next time the market crashes? For energy, due to the infrastructure requirements for mass delivery of services we'd have to go to individual level power generation. That could be fuel cell, wind or solar etc. The cost of those technologies is dropping, also as we become more energy efficient. Biomass, wave and wind could have a small affect on the companies producing energy. As they will never create their own distribution network they will be quite localised until we can create more efficient grids that can carry more energy further. Unfortunately we are still in the 'race to the bottom'. Firms are still trying to find the lowest cost workers. There ways hope that excess demand for shipping was going to increase the cost of producing abroad, unfortunately it looks like there is now an excess in supply of ships. So the cost of shipping has decreased from a number of years ago. Therefore, jobs can continue to sent abroad. Also, there is the noninflationary rate of unemployment which means there is always going to be some degree of unemployment. The jobs that can't be shipped abroad are the manual work, which is being influenced by immigration, and the service industry such as banking and finance (at least at the moment). There needs to be a structural shift in education to cater to the services to ensure we stay in the lead. Unfortunately, we know we are way behind on maths, science and engineering. So, I can't be very optimistic on job stability. There does need to be a change in how we value and invest in companies. We can't expect companies to continue to make massive profits year on year and exceed their last fiscal year. It doesn't make sense and is nothing more than illusionary. You don't have to rush out and buy gold, but make sure you have your savings well diversified.
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 Here's an economist question. Why are economists such wankers? And I thought we got along so well. Anyway, we are wankers because "we are prissy, fussy, priggish, prim and of what they would probably misrepresent as a higher social class than one's own. They speak in an over-precise way with much pedantic insistence on letters not generally sounded, especially Hs. Left to them the language would die of purity, like medieval Latin."
Vacamion Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Did you foresee the credit crunch and did you tell anyone at the time?
Webbo Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 I don't claim any expertise in economics other than an economics CSE from 30 odd years ago but I've always thought if you understand supply and demand that's all you really need. That's probably an over simplified view though.
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 Did you foresee the credit crunch and did you tell anyone at the time? Nope, but I didn't suffer from it either.
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 I don't claim any expertise in economics other than an economics CSE from 30 odd years ago but I've always thought if you understand supply and demand that's all you really need. That's probably an over simplified view though. Pretty much. Economics tries to allocate resources efficiently, so it tries to understand the effects of various forces on different types of supply and demand. E.g. demand for for ice cream isn't constant, it spikes at certain times of the year. Economists try to figure out what are the causes of the change in demand. It isn't because the football season has ended and we are now sitting around fingers deep in neapolitan...
Zingari Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Should the UK continue with Fiat currency or should we now be thinking of going for Toyota or maybe even Mercedes.?
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 For the foreseeable future. It is generally accepted, easily tradeable and at the moment a good store of value. I think you've read my views on bitcoin and the like. I think they have a future, but I think it is 15-20 years off being more accepted in the developed world. Part of my job is working with mobile financial services (M-pesa and the like) and they are actually transforming cash transfers in developing countries, but they are still based on the government backed currency at the moment.
Smudge Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Should the UK continue with Fiat currency or should we now be thinking of going for Toyota or maybe even Mercedes.? How about this Sterling 825? A Daimler might be a good punt with an Aussie accent
Stadt Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Have I become the new Rincewind?!Haha no you're not that bad BB!However I did think of rincey wincey spider though but your post is way too coherent!
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 Haha no you're not that bad BB! However I did think of rincey wincey spider though but your post is way too coherent! Ill sTarT a conedy fred soon. (sorry Rince!)
Zingari Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 How about this Sterling 825? A Daimler might be a good punt with an Aussie accent good idea Smudge but i think we should go back to a gold standard edit; ok so its a crappy beige/puce , but i don't think they ever made standard 10's in gold or yellow
Merging Cultures Posted 10 February 2014 Author Posted 10 February 2014 good idea Smudge but i think we should go back to a gold standard Nice tache!
bovril Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 I have loads of questions about the economy but I won't ask them here for fear of being ridiculed for lacking even basic economics knowledge. It's one of those things I've always thought I'd leave to the people who know what they're talking about. I even worked in a financial institution for a year after Uni... then gave it up to move abroad and take photos... smart move. Now photography, Balkan history and English football in the 90s, these things I know about. Unfortunately, none of these pay well.Here's a question - are stamps really legal tender?
Smudge Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 good idea Smudge but i think we should go back to a gold standard edit; ok so its a crappy beige/puce , but i don't think they ever made standard 10's in gold or yellow Underpinned by oil, brilliant!!
ADK Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 I do like economics, but it is a bit like the bible. You can make an economic argument for just about any course of action or none at all.
Vlad the Fox Posted 10 February 2014 Posted 10 February 2014 Pretty much. Economics tries to allocate resources efficiently, so it tries to understand the effects of various forces on different types of supply and demand. E.g. demand for for ice cream isn't constant, it spikes at certain times of the year. Economists try to figure out what are the causes of the change in demand. It isn't because the football season has ended and we are now sitting around fingers deep in neapolitan... I have loads of questions about the economy but I won't ask them here for fear of being ridiculed for lacking even basic economics knowledge. It's one of those things I've always thought I'd leave to the people who know what they're talking about. I even worked in a financial institution for a year after Uni... then gave it up to move abroad and take photos... smart move. Now photography, Balkan history and English football in the 90s, these things I know about. Unfortunately, none of these pay well. Here's a question - are stamps really legal tender? Don't worry. Thanks to this thread I've got it Sussed. It's all about supply and demand and the weather, I reckon I know as much as Osborne now.
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