Re:Why are we still working this hard?
by kjshsh123 on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @08:59PM
(#50462070)
So this is wrong mainly for two reasons:
1. We consume a lot more now than we did before. You could work less and consume more than you did in 1973 or whatever. But you wouldn't have the newest phone, half your kitchen's appliances, seatbelts or seatwarmers and a gps in your car, or air conditioning in your home. Even average home sizes have nearly doubled since 1973.
2. There is no economic law that productivity should equal wages. When a production function is concave, it's marginal productivity that determines wages. When a production function is not concave, then you get the corner solution where wages equal average productivity. That's what changed in 1973. That's when America's frontier closed and instead of growing outwards, America started to be forced to have to do more with what it already had.
The way out is to reopen the frontier which largely requires relaxing land use laws to allow building up and out.
1. We consume a lot more now than we did before. You could work less and consume more than you did in 1973 or whatever. But you wouldn't have the newest phone, half your kitchen's appliances, seatbelts or seatwarmers and a gps in your car, or air conditioning in your home. Even average home sizes have nearly doubled since 1973.
2. There is no economic law that productivity should equal wages. When a production function is concave, it's marginal productivity that determines wages. When a production function is not concave, then you get the corner solution where wages equal average productivity. That's what changed in 1973. That's when America's frontier closed and instead of growing outwards, America started to be forced to have to do more with what it already had.
The way out is to reopen the frontier which largely requires relaxing land use laws to allow building up and out.