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dreamdancer

Should the Free Market be Meritocratic?

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or not...



If I've decoded your question properly, you're asking if the "Free Market" should work according to who's products are "the best quality" rather than simply "who sells their products the best."

It's not that simple.

Every purchasing decision is made on whether or not the items suits the end users requirements. VHS won over Beta not because it was the superior product (it wasn't by a long shot), but because it came in at a lower price point and the consumer said, "Ok, that's good enough."
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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or not...



If I've decoded your question properly, you're asking if the "Free Market" should work according to who's products are "the best quality" rather than simply "who sells their products the best."

It's not that simple.

Every purchasing decision is made on whether or not the items suits the end users requirements. VHS won over Beta not because it was the superior product (it wasn't by a long shot), but because it came in at a lower price point and the consumer said, "Ok, that's good enough."



it's more along the lines of 'imagine a perfect free market. will people's labour be allocated meritocratically - the best person for the job'. or will the free market default to some other outcome?
stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
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or not...



If I've decoded your question properly, you're asking if the "Free Market" should work according to who's products are "the best quality" rather than simply "who sells their products the best."

It's not that simple.

Every purchasing decision is made on whether or not the items suits the end users requirements. VHS won over Beta not because it was the superior product (it wasn't by a long shot), but because it came in at a lower price point and the consumer said, "Ok, that's good enough."



it's more along the lines of 'imagine a perfect free market. will people's labour be allocated meritocratically - the best person for the job'. or will the free market default to some other outcome?



It should default to business owners being able to hire whomever the F**k they want as long as they are not clearly discriminating against a Protected Class.

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it's more along the lines of 'imagine a perfect free market. will people's labour be allocated meritocratically - the best person for the job'. or will the free market default to some other outcome?



It's the exact same thing though . . .

I recently worked on a project for three weeks because the client didn't like the high price she would have had to pay going to another vendor. It's simply a balancing act of three factors; good, cheap and fast. You can NEVER have all three and you HAVE to make a compromise somewhere.

If you want it FAST and CHEAP it's probably not going to be GOOD.
I can hire a minimum wage worker who is not very skilled. The work will get done, but don't complain about the quality of work being done if you're going this route.

If you want it FAST and GOOD it's probably not going to be CHEAP.
I can hire an expert (or several of them) who can do a quick turn around on the project, but it's going to cost more.

If you want it GOOD and CHEAP it's probably not going to be FAST.
I can contract out the work overseas, but this takes considerably more lead time to set up, so it's not getting done by tomorrow. Or in my personal case, I can do it all my myself at my own pace, but it's going to take three weeks.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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