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Request For Research: Basic Income

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#361

Post by dmix »

albertop wrote: post #334
dmix wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing red tape has indeed been tried in America... but almost exclusively for the benefit of already large near monopolistic corporations. It has rarely happened to the benefit of small/medium businesses. Especially if you're talking about deregulation that happened in the financial industry in the 2000s. The companies that most struggle with red tape aren't mega-corps but the smaller companies who can't afford te…

Seems like "It has rarely happened to the benefit of small/medium businesses." and "The companies that most struggle with red tape aren't mega-corps but the smaller companies" are contradictory. Not sure if I understand if you are for or against removing red tape.

Politicians are the ones acting contradictory. By removing red tape for mega-corps - for companies who already have the financial capacity to hire lawyers and staff to deal with regulation - instead of removing red tape for the small companies who would really benefit from it.

I believe it's clear where I stand on the matter.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#362

Post by tptacek »

mattmaroon wrote: post #343
tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

The flipside to your first point is that employers can probably get an edge these days by simply ignoring college degrees. If you're skilled enough at hiring to actually find good people, ones without degrees are probably undervalued by a significant margin.

That's true in technology, which is why I qualified the second suggestion with "non-technology jobs". It's much less true in other fields, where the work hasn't yet been done to create evaluation rubrics that don't depend on signaling from college.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#363

Post by Spooky23 »

fasteddie wrote: post #349
Spooky23 wrote: post #120

The problem with basic income is that people need purpose, not charity. Look at the success of programs in Africa that give people the ability to make a living, not a bag of rice. One particularly moving story was about a group that got foot-powered water pumps into the hands of subsistence farmers, who subsequently were able to send their kids to school. At one point, the core purpose of monetary policy and central…

Evidence increasingly is showing that direct cash transfers to the poorest are among the most effective interventions, among randomized control trials in the developing world.

Define poorest. The great society handed out lots of free cash in the 60s and 70s, and it didn't work.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#364

Post by [deleted] »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #293
firloop wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. While college is becoming less of an important step for many careers, education, especially post-graduate, is vital for many others. For example, if I were a large tech company hiring physicists for R&D, I really don't think it's unfair to expect some sort of post-grad education, nor do I think these instances really contribute to any sort of problem right now.

I think the parent is saying that if someone can demonstrate they can handle a physicist position for R&D, does education even matter? It would really depend on the criteria used to determine the ability to perform at the job. If the criteria is good enough I see no reason why someone without a PhD could take the job.

[deleted]

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#365

Post by greedo »

harryh wrote: post #183
tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

This is a great list! I will, selfishly, riff on you 6th point to add: * Modern logistics-driven solutions for inexpensive high-quality elder care. If working this sort of thing sounds interesting to anyone then check out hometeamcare.com and ping me. We're hiring for basically every role in the company. It's a very interesting business!

Both child and elder care are very labor intensive (assuming you don't want to just warehouse bodies). Perhaps robotics with fantastic AI will improve things in the future, but I'm skeptical.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#367

Post by kasey_junk »

stcredzero wrote: post #347
tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. Why not just free university education for people who have the prerequisite academic qualifications?

I think for me one of the open questions is are "prerequisite academic qualifications" as they currently stand, the right precursors to the kinds of educations we might dream up in the future.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#368

Post by AnimalMuppet »

jakeogh wrote: post #176

What a cop-out calling it "basic income". As if it's somehow "free money". Really it's just a further institutionalization of theft, of course making people more dependent on mother government. Imagine the debate, should we raise basic income by x or 2x? The solution is not more laws, it's less. For example ending the war on drugs would have a immediate effect on the lower income brackets. If I didnt pay >1/3 of my i…

Nice job defining all taxation as theft without actually stating it.

I can kind of see a basis for that - people with guns enforce that you pay your taxes. On the other hand, in the US, Congress decides on the budget, and we vote for those folks. And we don't seem to care enough about government spending to vote out the ones that spend a lot.

And, if taxation is theft, what is your alternative? Government supported by charity? Government supported by printing money? No government? What?

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#369

Post by egypturnash »

samstave wrote: post #155
criddell wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's not going to be an answer, of course. I think a good source of data could be the population of retired people. I'm pretty sure if I could afford to be retired, I could easily keep busy the rest of my life.

And busy is relative. Some stay busy napping. Some stay busy zoning on TV/internet. Some stay busy actually creating stuff. All of them may believe themselves to be "busy"

Someone's got to read/watch/read/play/hear/use all that stuff the people who love to make things are going to produce.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#370

Post by rewqfdsa »

samstave wrote: post #299
rewqfdsa wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions You're talking about trade schools? Good. That's a step in the right direction. It doesn't go far enough though. One unfortunate reality of our existence is that people differ markedly in cognitive skill. These differences are innate and immutable. Not everyone can benefit from an education. If we pitch education as the way to address to inequali…

We need to figure out an alternate way of living for people who are intellectually incapable of contributing to a modern technologically advanced economy. A basic income is a good start. There is another dimension to this problem though; national borders and status. There are a TON of really smart mexicans and other immigrants of every nation who are stuck into an effective caste system based on their status. In fact…

We already have programs for granting preferential immigration to high-skilled foreigners. Every advanced country does. Unrestrained immigration is incompatible with a welfare state. Which would you rather have?
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