
The Online Gig Economy’s ‘Race to the Bottom’ - lnguyen
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/fiverr-online-gig-economy/569083/?single_page=true
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wrong_variable
> 'On Fiverr, I found someone in Pakistan offering to do architectural designs
> for just $5.'

I think westerners have a warped sense of money due to news report about '$X
billion people live on 2 dollars a day' meme.

5 dollars in karachi wont get you very far, good pakistani professional charge
as much US professionals, and instead of working for website that nickle and
dimes, they normally have better options such as moving to Saudi Arabia of
Qatar to get regular 5000 dollar / month salary that professionals make.

I hate how journalists always tend to think the world is somehow zero sum,
somebody in Pakistan getting a job means somebody in rural Ohio is losing out
?

Does the journalist know that the US taxpayer has for over 20 years being
providing significant aid to Pakistan, just to prevent the place from going
full terrorist Mecca ?

In 2018 its possible that Pakistan would again need an IMF bailout ( funded by
US taxpayers of course ).

I singled out Pakistan because the author did, but in general the more
economic activity moves online the better it is for global productivity.

More saving in third world countries results in more development there,
resulting in further capacity to save, then maybe someday they would have the
disposable income to finally afford the 5 dollar coffee from Starbucks, or
better yet not need american aid.

~~~
dannycastonguay
It took me a few years (University?) to understand better the concepts of job
creation (macroeconomics) and of zero-sum (game theory). I assume many readers
(maybe even the author) of the article will not have an understanding of these
notions either and therefore will not arrive at your conclusions.

Instead of "hating", maybe we could acknowledge the problem and try to come up
with a solution? Not that I'm able to come up with a good one.

A bit off topic, but when I see adults who lack a certain concept, I take note
of teaching my kids about that concept. For instance, I want to teach my kids
the concept of "velocity of money" by adopting an internal currency (e.g.,
stuffed toys), where you can "spend" by asking a favor, and "earn" by doing a
favor. Over time, my wife and I might also increase the pool of "money"
whenever someone does something especially nice. No blockchain required ;-)

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swiley
People will actually assume you don’t know what you’re doing if you
undercharge. Skilled labor isn’t a perfectly competitive market.

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madengr
Funny to see Fiverr people using EDA tools that can cost $100k. The below link
shows numerous people selling antenna design services with CST Microwave
Studio. I use this at work, and would need to charge 1000x that to recoup the
cost of the software.

[https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?utf8=&search_in=everywher...](https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?utf8=&search_in=everywhere&query=Antenna&search-
autocomplete-original-term=&search-autocomplete-original-term=Antenna)

~~~
arbuge
Perhaps using university / work licenses they didn't pay for themselves...

