Supply & Demand: What if the People make "Wrong" Choices?

[Son_of_Liberty90]

This is a question of media. Liberals see this clip and think "HRR DURRR...FREE MARKET BAD."



"What our readers want." So, if the majority of readers want to read about scandal and frivolous topics, that's the market speaking so why spend the effort trying to educate them on "important" issues?

This is just a hypothetical of course. But in terms of media, if you let the market decide, then it's not a matter of the market not working, but the hearts and minds of the people themselves, right? And only the people themselves can reflect on what's really important to pay attention to, not frivolous celebrity scandal.

But what if the majority never does?

CSPAN is educational, but it's boring and hardly anyone watches it except for soundbites in news coverage.

Is the answer for Libertarians to keep trying with educational entertaining media until they breakthrough to the masses?

[Xerographica]

It's important to understand the difference between popular and valuable. Take prohibition for example. Was it popular? Sure... in the sense that lots of people voted for it. But was it valuable? We don't know. It's not like voters were required to put their money where their votes were.

It's the same thing with Reddit. The stories with the most votes are clearly the most popular... but it's doubtful that they are the most valuable.

From my perspective, the solution is to replace voting with spending. For articles this could be accomplished by facilitating micropayments. The most valuable stories would receive the most payments. We could do the same thing with this forum. I suggested it a while back but, unfortunately, most members of this forum don't see the value of putting their money where their values are.

Markets work best when value signals are accurate. This is why the minimum wage is a problem. The minimum wage creates inaccurate value signals. Inaccurate value signals are also why ad-based revenue is a problem. You might share an article or video that you love... but your love will be largely latent. A "thumbs up" isn't going to accurately communicate your love. Only sacrifice/spending can accurately communicate your love.

When sacrifice/spending is largely absent... then do we really have a market? Is this forum a market? We can choose which threads we spend our time in... but it's not like we use our cash to communicate our love. So if this forum is a market... then it's a crappy one.

It's important to distinguish between good markets (accurate value signals) and bad markets (inaccurate value signals). In this sense... socialism is the epitome of a bad market. What we have in the public sector isn't much better. The market in the private sector is a lot better than the "market" in the public sector... but the market in the private sector is far from perfect. We could use this forum to lead by example but, unfortunately, like I said, most members don't appreciate the importance of accurate value signals.

If anybody is interested in creating a website that allows members to create accurate value signals... please PM me!

[Zippyjuan]

Economically speaking, to make a perfect choice you need perfect information. That includes not just your own money supply and the price of the thing you are considering but all the information about all other possible alternatives. And that only covers you for now. You also need to decide to purchase now or wait. What are the benefit for buying now vs in the future for all of those possible alternatives. Would be buyers don't have perfect information so they can't make perfect choices so odds are they won't make the absolutely best one. But they usually have enough information to make a "good enough" decision.

Media only sort of cares what you are interested in. What they are generally interested in is what will give them the most revenue. Consumers have shown (being used to most content on the internet being free) a strong unwillingness to pay for that content so they have to turn to advertisers who hope you will be buying from them. If the website can get you to linger long enough, hopefully you will notice the ads and patronize the advertisers.

[oyarde]

Supply & demand . People make wrong choices all of the time . That is why they have 3 or more tv's , car payments etc and I have silver , ammo , weapons and gold.....

[The Gold Standard]

Is this an economics question? Or a political activism question? The economic answer is that there are no "wrong" choices, only choices that fulfill a consumer's preferences at the time they make them. The activist answer is much more complicated and probably not meant for this subforum.

[Son_of_Liberty90]

Is this an economics question? Or a political activism question? The economic answer is that there are no "wrong" choices, only choices that fulfill a consumer's preferences at the time they make them. The activist answer is much more complicated and probably not meant for this subforum.

Does it matter if its meant for thid forum or not? Im curious to know the activist answer

[Son_of_Liberty90]

It's important to understand the difference between popular and valuable. Take prohibition for example. Was it popular? Sure... in the sense that lots of people voted for it. But was it valuable? We don't know. It's not like voters were required to put their money where their votes were.

It's the same thing with Reddit. The stories with the most votes are clearly the most popular... but it's doubtful that they are the most valuable.

From my perspective, the solution is to replace voting with spending. For articles this could be accomplished by facilitating micropayments. The most valuable stories would receive the most payments. We could do the same thing with this forum. I suggested it a while back but, unfortunately, most members of this forum don't see the value of putting their money where their values are.

Markets work best when value signals are accurate. This is why the minimum wage is a problem. The minimum wage creates inaccurate value signals. Inaccurate value signals are also why ad-based revenue is a problem. You might share an article or video that you love... but your love will be largely latent. A "thumbs up" isn't going to accurately communicate your love. Only sacrifice/spending can accurately communicate your love.

When sacrifice/spending is largely absent... then do we really have a market? Is this forum a market? We can choose which threads we spend our time in... but it's not like we use our cash to communicate our love. So if this forum is a market... then it's a crappy one.

It's important to distinguish between good markets (accurate value signals) and bad markets (inaccurate value signals). In this sense... socialism is the epitome of a bad market. What we have in the public sector isn't much better. The market in the private sector is a lot better than the "market" in the public sector... but the market in the private sector is far from perfect. We could use this forum to lead by example but, unfortunately, like I said, most members don't appreciate the importance of accurate value signals.

If anybody is interested in creating a website that allows members to create accurate value signals... please PM me!

I love this idea