Where has all the money in the world gone?

Re:Where has all the money in the world gone? by jl6 on Saturday June 23, 2012 @09:13AM (#4150761)

People use the word Socialism when they mean something like "perversion of incentives". We perceive that Socialism incentivizes bad choices, like having more children than you could afford without government benefits, or making investments that appear less risky because you assume a government bailout will protect you.

As you point out, the nordic countries show that perverse incentives don't necessarily follow from Socialism. And indeed, America has its own non-Socialist perverse incentives such as encouraging pollution by not enforcing payment of the environmental externalities.

But all things considered globally, more socialism does tend to imply more perverse incentives.

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Re:Where has all the money in the world gone? by mixmax on Saturday June 23, 2012 @09:56AM (#4150852)

Thanks for the good explanation.

However you end your comment by an unfounded claim that more socialism tends to imply perverse incentives. The same could be claimed of capitalism (or probably any other ..ism), see the banking sector and American healthcare for good examples.

In the rather socialist Denmark (where I happen to be from) when you break a leg you go to the doctor to get it fixed for free, and then you call your employer and tell him you won't be working for the next week, but you'll receive your paycheck nonetheless. When you get a child you take 9 months off work with full pay so that your offspring can get a good introduction to life. When you're out of a job the state will take care of you indefinitely.

Despite of this denmark has a consistently strong economy, is one of the richest countries in the world, and has for many years been in the top three of both the happiest country and the least corrupt country in the world.

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Re:Where has all the money in the world gone? by eli_gottlieb on Sunday June 24, 2012 @10:20PM (#4154830)

When you're out of a job the state will take care of you indefinitely.

Is that the Flexicurity system? How does that work?

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Re:Where has all the money in the world gone? by MaysonL on Saturday June 23, 2012 @08:36PM (#4152221)

Of course less socialism also leads to perverse incentives at times, like avoiding starting a company because of fear of not being able to get health insurance.

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