Interesting podcast discussing remote work, funding by VC
Balaji believes that small countries will have an upper hand in the tech future.
I like how he referred to some eastern or non standard western countries being vaccinated
against extreme socialist ideology like communism.
thoughts 🤔 Theres something so fascinating about random places. Specifically in America. My
mind struggles to grasp the day to day life in a place like Tupelo Mississippi. What do people get
up to there, what is the main order of business, is it a commuter town, does it have its own
little economy. I find it kind of intractable to imagine thousands of these towns so far away.
an increase in the production of goods and services that people produce for each other.
We all have very specific needs or wishes for particular goods and services. Some needs arise
from bad luck, like an injury. Others are due to a new phase in life – think of the specific
goods and services you need when you have a baby or when you take care of an elderly person.
And yet others are due to specific interests – think of the needs of a fisherman, or a
pianist, or a painter.
All of these goods and services do not just magically appear. They need to be produced. At
some point in the past, the production of most of them was zero, and even the most essential
ones were extremely scarce. So if you want to know economic growth means for your life look at
that list above.
Economic growth describes an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and
services that a society produces
When we get up to brush our teeth and put on some toast, thats a service and a good. These
can’t really be counted as parted of economic growth though. The dividing line is called the
production boundary
Economic goods and services are those that can be produced and that are scarce in relation
to demand for them.
Considered useful by the person who demands it.
Growth, production of those products that people produce for each other.
Because economic goods are scarce human effort is required to produce them. There is an
opportunity cost.
Increase in quailty and quantity of useful goods (or what is considered
useful)
How would I go about measuring growth? how much money people are getting on aggregate for
labour? assuming all labour produces some good or service.
Roser does a good job highlighting the difficulty of defining a measure for growth.
Measures of Growth
measuring access to particular bunch of goods and services (what might be considered
fundamental)
Lots of variation in what people consider fundamental so bunch will always be somewhat
inaccurate.
”measuring people’s income is a way of measuring the options that they have, rather
than the choices that they make.”
Ratio between income and price of goods
making things more affordable, paying less for a good increases options that people
have
the ratio between the nominal income that people receive and the prices that people
have to pay for the goods and services – is called ‘real income’
real income = nominal income / price of goods and services
income is a measure of options not choices
Average income = average production
The total income in a society corresponds to the total sum of goods and services the
society produces.
People use money to get goods and services, good and services are produced by people,
therefore income (or the money people have) dictates production of goods and services
what about the income I save, is it not specifically spending we should measure. Or do
we take saving as a service?