Re:America's True Unemployment Rate
by pdonis on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @03:17PM
(#24841297)
> we can't read people's minds
Exactly. Which means you can't count what you say you're trying to count. What you're trying to count requires telepathy.
That's why economists look at revealed preference--what people actually do, not what you guess they might be thinking. So the correct way to see if there are people who would be employed if there were more jobs available, is...to let private individuals start new businesses and see if the increased number of jobs increases the number of people who are employed. But that would require the government to stop trying to micromanage everything, which is why the obvious solution of making it easier to run businesses so that more people will start them in order to create more jobs is a nonstarter politically.
Exactly. Which means you can't count what you say you're trying to count. What you're trying to count requires telepathy.
That's why economists look at revealed preference--what people actually do, not what you guess they might be thinking. So the correct way to see if there are people who would be employed if there were more jobs available, is...to let private individuals start new businesses and see if the increased number of jobs increases the number of people who are employed. But that would require the government to stop trying to micromanage everything, which is why the obvious solution of making it easier to run businesses so that more people will start them in order to create more jobs is a nonstarter politically.