Re:If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power
by xapata on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @05:35PM
(#17251308)
Computing is the extreme example of this phenomenon. Economists don't in general have a great way to handle this issue, because it varies so greatly across industries. A loaf of bread is just about the same as it's always been. Oh wait, maybe wonderbread is worse and artisinal ciabatta is better?
Sometimes economists like to create some aggregate measure of increasing consumer choice by counting the number of SKUs available in a store. Big box stores pushing out Mom & Pop made that awkward. Now Amazon makes it tougher still.
Back in grad school, I was not aware of any consensus on the topic. I haven't kept up with it since.
One technique is to focus your research on products that are largely stable in quality. For example, wine glasses. Not plastic ones, but glass or crystal. They've got a fairly large distribution in "quality" or at least in price and yet had a fairly stable range of quality since the 1950s.
Re:If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power
by vanderZwan on Thursday June 07, 2018 @07:39AM
(#17254917)
Thank you for answering. Sounds like a wicked problem.
Doesn't technological progress complicate this question even further?
When I think of more expensive products, I think of computers, smartphones, etc. Yes, the new flagship products stay expensive, but that also represents new possibilities that weren't possible a decade ago (let alone a few decades ago).
But nowadays you can get a functioning computer that lets you browse the Internet, watch videos and do your emails for the price of a Raspberry Pi (and the investment of a separate keyboard, mouse, charger, SD card and TV - but those can be gotten for cheap as well).
Similarly, a lot of things that used to be expensive are now cheap.
So basically: technological progress is shifting the "quality" spectrum itself, in some cases very quickly, in some cases barely.
(I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious how economists deal with questions like this)