Capitalism vs socialism, markets vs gov... Most ppl think 1 is great and the other trash. That’s simplistic.
They’re tools adapted to different situations. We must understand them to know when to use them. Thread.
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Capitalism is great. It uses natural selfishness to push ppl to be as productive as possible, promising them wealth. The + you produce for others, the + you get.
That is achieved by incurring both the cost and benefit of your initiatives.
Here’s the pbm
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It creates a huge incentive to increase your benefits in ways that worsen society.
This happens in many ways. Eg:
1. Information asymmetry
You want cheap & delicious food. But what if it has ingredients that cause cancer? The producer knows it, but doesn’t tell you.
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One of the key arguments of Herd Immunity apologists like @ScottWAtlas or Anders Tegnell is that you can't stop the virus. That means it only stops killing people when 50%-80% of the population has caught it (66% in Manaus). nature.com/articles/d4158…
If it had taken us 5 years to get a vaccine, it might have made sense: it might be too hard to control the virus this long. But now we can guess that by mid-late 2021, enough ppl might be vaccinated to stop it.
As a Stanford University alumnus, I am appalled at @ScottWAtlas's defense of herd immunity, and disappointed at @Stanford's response. But the nuances are important to get right. Thread:
First, @ScottWAtlas. The @washingtonpost reported his herd immunity position. The quick idea: (a) It's impossible to stop the virus, (b) it doesn't kill that many people anyway, (c) Sweden has succeeded letting it run, (d) lockdowns are too expensive
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Theory. Let’s call it “Lone Urban Success Paradox” or LUSP:
“Cities with an extremely successful industry are more likely to be politically mismanaged.”
Why?
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1. The best workers in the local workforce will gravitate towards this aspirational industry. Politics are uninteresting in comparison: much less career potential
2. The local government is flush with money by milking the world-class industry. It becomes profligate and wasteful.