219
votes
What is capitalism's answer to constant economic growth hitting the limit of the planet's finite resources?
Why would capitalism have an answer?
Your question presumes that economic systems should be fully planned out into perpetuity, but that's just a false premise. You might as well ask what democracy's ...
- 4,850
204
votes
Accepted
Why is globalisation so disdained?
There are critics of globalization both on the progressive and on the conservative side of the political spectrum.
One of the most relevant progressive anti-globalization NGOs is the European Attac. ...
177
votes
What ethical (if any) or economical arguments are offered in defense of the inheritance tax?
What arguments are typically offered by those supportive of this
taxation technique, both ethically and economically, in order to
defend and promote its use?
Inheritance Taxes As Taxes In Lieu of ...
- 88.3k
160
votes
What is the capitalist answer to automation?
In 1800, more than 90% of everyone were farmers. Modernly in the United States, which is a net exporter of food, less than 5% of everyone are employed on farms. That's a reduction of 85%, much ...
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150
votes
Why hasn't competition between health insurance providers led to lower prices for consumers?
What the other answers fail to address is a fundamental flaw in capitalism for certain types of business:
Your average human places their continued survival above all other priorities.
This concept ...
- 17.3k
109
votes
Accepted
Why hasn't competition between health insurance providers led to lower prices for consumers?
How free is the US health care market really?
The reason that free competition has not made health care in the US cheaper is that free competition has in fact been severely restricted for decades. As ...
- 1,022
105
votes
Accepted
How could the free market limit the effects of net neutrality's repeal?
Almost all high-speed broadband Internet service providers, except in high-density urban populations, have limited competition, if not full monopolies. A small start-up would have to build out their ...
- 21k
103
votes
During the COVID-19 pandemic, why is it claimed that the US President is making a trade-off of human lives for the economy?
I can't speak for Rebecca's judgement in interpreting those words of Trump, but for instance a NYT article says:
“Our people want to return to work,” Mr. Trump declared Tuesday on Twitter, adding, “...
99
votes
What is Canada's case for applying tariffs on US dairy?
It seems that Canada and the US use two different systems to protect their respective domestic dairy producers.
In Canada "Under a system called supply management, the Canadian government controls ...
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94
votes
Is there any record of Trickle Down Economics improving the economy?
It needs to be stated that "Trickle-Down Economics" is not actually a thing. The phrase itself was coined by Democrats who opposed Reagan's tax plans in order to mock the idea of Supply Side ...
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91
votes
Accepted
Why has Venezuela's economy collapsed when Cuba's has not?
The reason Venezuela's economy collapsed was its over-reliance on oil exports. In the last half of the 20th century, the Venezuelan economy focused on growing its oil industry, while relying on ...
- 78.9k
91
votes
Why has Venezuela's economy collapsed when Cuba's has not?
Wait up a minute. Who says Cuba didn't fail spectacularly?
Miami (and Florida in general) have a huge Cuban population. Generally, because Cubans did anything they could to leave that country ...
- 2,429
90
votes
Accepted
What is capitalism's answer to constant economic growth hitting the limit of the planet's finite resources?
Not all parts of the economy consume finite resources equally. In fact, only a minor portion of it is related to the manufacturing of goods in the industrialized countries. Most of the economy there ...
- 9,832
83
votes
Is there a link between democracy and economic prosperity?
The premise of the question that Ghana does not do well despite being a democracy appears to be flawed.
Ghana became a multi-party democratic republic in 1993. Since then:
The GDP increased by a ...
- 78.9k
80
votes
What will happen if China stops loaning money to the U.S.?
There are some assumptions being made by this question that don't reflect how the international economic order works.
Countries do not ever have to pay off all of their debt
A nation's finances are ...
- 10.5k
80
votes
Accepted
Why does Spain's government want to increase the minimum wage by such a large percentage at once?
You're looking at the policy economically rather than politically.
Spain has to have a general election by July 2020. The government are contemplating having it earlier, possibly in May 2019 (to ...
- 5,670
76
votes
Accepted
Has there ever been an independence movement with the goal to split off an underperforming part of a nation?
An example I could think of is Singapore. The country became independent from Malaysia after the Malaysian Parliament voted to expel Singapore, due to a combination of racial, economic and political ...
- 46.7k
74
votes
Accepted
Why is India diverting its resources to build its second mission to Mars?
Are there any tangible benefits for India going to Mars with respect to common people?
Rhetorical question: Are there any tangible benefits for India maintaining the Taj Majal with respect to the ...
- 15.1k
71
votes
Why did Berlin freeze the rent prices as opposed to letting the market set the price?
The market was somewhat more free before the rent freeze (it was not completely free, see antipattern's excellent answer), and this had effects that some Berliners considered undesirable. The article ...
- 1,320
69
votes
Why do some European governments still consider price capping despite the fact that price caps lead to shortages?
First of all, this is one of the many situations where we have to remember that the Econ101-explanations are based on assumptions that are never going to be satisfied in reality. There rarely is an &...
- 14.7k
68
votes
Why are 150k or 200k jobs considered good when there are 300k+ births a month?
The obvious answer is that people get older and (presumably, hopefully) retire from the workforce.
If your country's demographic is otherwise more or less stable, it means that by the time those 300,...
- 1,955
67
votes
Why would the government force its population to save for retirement?
If your country also has a welfare system, and someone doesn't save for their retirement, they'll end up on welfare when they stop working. So the government is going to have to pay their expenses ...
- 11.9k
66
votes
Why are Americans' perceptions about their economy so incorrect?
Paul Krugman has covered this topic a lot recently in his New York Times column (e.g., New Perspectives on the Feel-Bad Economy, Nov 2023, and numerous others). The answer seems to be a mix of things,...
- 2,313
65
votes
Why don't countries like Japan just print more money?
This modern theory is far from commonly accepted.
One comment is that printing itself out of debt may be possible for country that is a global reserve currency, but only as long as it is a global ...
- 116k
64
votes
What is capitalism's answer to constant economic growth hitting the limit of the planet's finite resources?
The claim that constant economic growth within a planet of finite resources is impossible is false. Natural resources can be physically finite while being economically infinite. That is, regardless of ...
- 15.8k
63
votes
Accepted
What are the downsides of being a debt-free country (no foreign national debt)?
Eliminating national debt is not necessarily a good thing because a country's economics are a lot less like personal finance and far more like business finance.
Businesses (and countries) take on ...
- 2,429
63
votes
Accepted
How is Japan able to sustain a large debt as a percentage of GDP, while Greece could not?
Their economies are radically different otherwise.
Greece has a weak economy in most fields, with the exception of tourism. Japan is a manufacturing and scientific powerhouse.
Greece runs recurring ...
- 92.7k
60
votes
Why is globalisation so disdained?
The main practical problem with globalism is implied right there in your question:
Trade makes everyone better off in the long run, and it isn't as if we can just pretend that we don't live on a ...
- 93.3k
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