Money and Value
Money and Value
When perceptions shift, values shift, and even the value of money and its flow are seen in a new perspective.
David Amerland posits some thoughts on the flow of money.
Ping Gideon Rosenblatt
Originally shared by David Amerland
Helicopter Money
What if money, just like manna fell from the sky? Not quite from heaven but from a helicopter? If you find the notion outlandish consider that it is now a little more than a thought experiment.
Over the years I have written, occasionally, on money: http://goo.gl/XuLHrn and value: http://goo.gl/sRBc0z not because I do not value the former and don't know how to assess the latter but because I think every mechanism we have to date on money and value, has grown haphazardly and organically in a way that works very well in narrow contexts but fails to address the longterm picture and is totally blind to the global scene.
We have been in an uncertain economic climate ever since Lehman Brothers collapsed and the global economy entered a state of persistent uncertainty and the pressure is finally getting to economists (who usually view money the same way they view trust, i.e. as an immutable quantity that is subject to extrinsic manipulation but offers no intrinsic dynamics of its own).
Some of them are now beginning to seriously entertain the notion of "Helicopter Money" - essentially stimulus funds delivered to a population via a one-off Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT).
The BBC has an article on this (http://goo.gl/XuLHrn) which is beautifully balanced. I disagree with the naysayers who believe that such an action would undermine the trust we have in the value of money. As economists they are focusing too much on the monetary value of money and are completely overlooking the real reasons why money is actually trusted as currency: https://goo.gl/AuXVBO.
Bottom line, such a conversation would have been unthinkable at economist level a year ago. The very fact that it is now being discussed is indicative of the depth of change that is being forced upon us by the changes that are accumulating in almost every form of relational transaction we have taking place.
Dreams! Really is what we do best!
ReplyDeleteVery though-provoking, Zara Altair. The notion of a Guaranteed Basic Income is something that is popping up more and more on my radar, and it's somewhat related to this thought experiment of David Amerland's. I'm still wrapping my head around the feasibility, but ah coming to the conclusion that something like this may end up being quite necessary.
ReplyDeleteGideon Rosenblatt given the inevitability of mass roboticization across many areas of work there really is no other way to hold the social fabric together. What is interesting is that when this starts to happen on a broad scale the conversation about privacy will change drastically. In order to be eligible for the guaranteed income the State will need to know accurately who we are and where we are.
ReplyDeleteGideon Rosenblatt My head hasn't quite "wrapped" the feasibility. :)
ReplyDeleteDavid Amerland Good point about the shift in privacy conversation and personal concerns. 1984 came and went.
I hadn't made that connection w/ privacy, David Amerland. Yeah, and I think that's just the tip of the iceberg. Sooo much will change if/when we go down this route.
ReplyDeleteGideon Rosenblatt there is no give without some take. :)
ReplyDelete