
The Great Decoupling - thecolorblue
https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-great-decoupling
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eruditely
Quoted from below, on whether income is relevant as a measure

[http://www.propertarianism.com/2015/05/19/income-as-a-
measur...](http://www.propertarianism.com/2015/05/19/income-as-a-measure-is-a-
pseudoscientific-distraction/)

"The question is better served by how we spend our time, what we consume, and
what we worry about, than any measure of income. Income is a poor proxy for
measuring inter-temporal changes in consumption, and is only a useful measure
of temporal asymmetry.

What is for example, the cost of not fearing the soviet union, the change in
crime in Boston and new York?

Conversely, what is the cost of increase in political friction due to
immigration? What is the cost of the conflict over Obamacare? What is the cost
of maintaining the post-war empire (probably neutral). What is the cost of
outsourcing? What is the cost of failing to reform education?

Income is the least important of these measures. And that is precisely why
it’s the topic of conversation: because it is the least important but the most
emotionally loaded topic. It is an elaborate pseudoscientific distraction for
purely political purposes."

Interesting. I do not necessarily endorse this but he has influenced me much.

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jeffdavis
"We’re not saying that social choices have no effect, and for that matter,
we’re not saying that globalization has no effect, either. However, there
seems to be a common underlying force that’s affecting all these countries. We
think that force is technology."

It would be nice if they expanded on that. What other trends are at work,
aside from technology, that might also coincide with this "decoupling".
Globalization and immigration are two things that merit more discussion. Why
do they think technology predominates?

~~~
crdoconnor
>Why do they think technology predominates?

Short answer: they probably don't. But they want _you_ to think that.

Technology is the _one driver_ that you can't blame anybody for. If technology
is responsible for a loss of jobs, livelihoods and poverty, who can you blame?
Nobody.

If globalization (by which we mean "trade policy like the
TPP/TTIP/NAFTA/CAFTA"), de-unionization and steady corrupting effect of money
on government are actually responsible instead, you have a small group of
exposed people to point a pitchfork at. You can say _Larry Summers_ helped
cause this. _Obama_ helped cause this. _Greg Mankiw_ helped cause this. Not
progress. People.

That's not ideal if you are one of those elites.

So, blame the robots for everything and if anybody notices, call them a
luddite.

~~~
eru
> If globalization (by which we mean "trade policy like the
> TPP/TTIP/NAFTA/CAFTA"), de-unionization and steady corrupting effect of
> money on government are actually responsible instead, you have a small group
> of exposed people to point a pitchfork at. You can say Larry Summers helped
> cause this. Obama helped cause this. Greg Mankiw helped cause this. Not
> progress. People.

> Brynjolfsson: No, similar trends are appearing in most developed countries.

Does your conspiracy theory encompass the whole globe?

~~~
jeffdavis
"Does your conspiracy theory encompass the whole globe?"

It doesn't have to, it only has to affect those countries in which the
decoupling is taking place. Not sure if that makes it more plausible or not.

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emmelaich
Paywalled, and the title gives no hint of what it's about.

~~~
ArekDymalski
I guess this image from the article will answer your question:
[https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2015/05/R150...](https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2015/05/R1506D_MCAFEE_WHENWORKERSFALLBEHIND.png)

