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War as the only Method of Full-Employment

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cognitivist posted on Tue, Aug 17 2010 9:51 PM

What kind of free-market blueprint could bring about full-employment?

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cognitivist:

What kind of free-market blueprint could bring about full-employment?

Why are you saying that there is more than one kind of free market? Isn't it just free or not?

If I wrote it more than a few weeks ago, I probably hate it by now.

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Sieben replied on Tue, Aug 17 2010 10:00 PM

Why wouldn't the free market tend towards full employment? No minimum wage... no labor laws... how do you define full employment anyway?

I refuse to work unless someone gives me a job at $50 an hour and levels up my characters on WoW while I'm at work. Am I unemployed?

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I. Ryan:

cognitivist:

What kind of free-market blueprint could bring about full-employment?

Why are you saying that there is more than one kind of free market? Isn't it just free or not?

Sorry, the question was convoluted. Do free markets bring about full-employment is a better question.

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I refuse to work unless someone gives me a job at $50 an hour and levels up my characters on WoW while I'm at work. Am I unemployed?

There is no such thing as unemployment, strictly speaking.  In terms of monetary income, there is only frictional unemployment in a free market (edit:) or you don't want to work.

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Sieben:
Why wouldn't the free market tend towards full employment? No minimum wage... no labor laws... how do you define full employment anyway?

I refuse to work unless someone gives me a job at $50 an hour and levels up my characters on WoW while I'm at work. Am I unemployed?

A better question is.. how do you define situations that are non-full-employment? Given we assume the Keynesian definiton that all human resources and production are utilized. By what? Well I suppose any one, or thing. I believe that was Keynes' basic definition of it, correct me if I'm wrong.

He doesn't really touch upon what "utilization" would look like. Be it employment for 1 second, 8 hours a day, at .50c or $50.00/hr. I'm intrigued by the Keynesian vagueness. Haha.

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Sieben replied on Wed, Aug 18 2010 8:37 AM

cognitivist:
A better question is.. how do you define situations that are non-full-employment?
Well then we are never at full employment because leisure time still has value. Workers would have to be fed via drip and... you get the picture.

Full employment is a useless metric. In a really prosperous society people might only have to work 10hrs/week before leisure time became worth more than any marginal benefits from working.

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Sieben:
Full employment is a useless metric. In a really prosperous society people might only have to work 10hrs/week before leisure time became worth more than any marginal benefits from working.

No taxes would be a start.

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Sieben replied on Wed, Aug 18 2010 8:56 AM

If there were fewer taxes people might work less. Like I said, its all about the subjective marginal value of an extra hour of work vs an extra hour of free time.

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