tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post8339604519414530703..comments2023-10-07T13:16:34.756+02:00Comments on Simon Thorpe's Ideas on the Economy: An open letter to my colleague Jean Tirole - the new nobel prize winner in EconomicsSimon Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-46562675497764428342015-01-02T15:45:31.450+01:002015-01-02T15:45:31.450+01:00Voda - thanks! Fascinating video.
For me, Friedm...Voda - thanks! Fascinating video. <br /><br />For me, Friedman's Negative Income tax (which is not a bad idea at all), is functionally exactly the same as giving everyone an Unconditional Basic Income, and taxing it. Get rid of the $3000 threshold for taxation used in the Video, and treat all income in the same way. <br /><br /><br /><br />I could note in addition that, if you follow other bits of my blog, you will know that I am in favour of scrapping income tax altogether and replacing the whole taxation system by a flat rate financial transaction tax. In other words, you get (say) €500 per month per person, and any additional income you can make you keep!! You can't get much more liberal than that!<br /><br /><br />Cheers, SimonSimon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-88684482970252272152014-12-01T00:23:08.743+01:002014-12-01T00:23:08.743+01:00In theories on
economic liberalism, there is the s...In theories on<br />economic liberalism, there is the school of Chicago on the one hand<br />and another Austrian school defended by libertarians. Here is an<br />article which argues for the setting up of a basic incomes http://www.libertarianism.org/columns/libertarian-case-basic-income#LSJHAW:Sg2Simon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-16387252963984690262014-12-01T00:08:43.108+01:002014-12-01T00:08:43.108+01:00Hello Simon
If you want to explain the basic inco...Hello Simon<br /><br />If you want to explain the basic income to a follower of economic liberalism theorist you must serve him with Milton Friedman and possibly offer him to watch this video which presents the principle of negative income tax<br /><br />http://youtu.be/xtpgkX588nM<br /><br />VodaSimon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-78441164177745248592014-10-26T09:52:46.290+01:002014-10-26T09:52:46.290+01:00Ah, I see the problem. But actually I was very hap...Ah, I see the problem. But actually I was very happy to be able to spell things out clearly. It really does seem to make sense, doesn't it!Simon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-2035540917778152612014-10-26T09:52:02.923+01:002014-10-26T09:52:02.923+01:00Wow - thanks Manuel. It looks very impressive in S...Wow - thanks Manuel. It looks very impressive in Spanish. I wonder if Jean Tirole reads Spanish?Simon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-3181203230127419982014-10-25T21:21:53.929+02:002014-10-25T21:21:53.929+02:00Simon, here you have both versions, English and Sp...Simon, here you have both versions, English and Spanish:<br />http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=13746<br />http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=13747<br /><br />Good work!Simon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-85257843991724625332014-10-25T18:11:48.169+02:002014-10-25T18:11:48.169+02:00Simon, the sentence puzzled me because I did not r...Simon, the sentence puzzled me because I did not realize that you had elided the word "pay" in "... than they would (pay) to a single 21-year old ..." In any case, your long and detailed answer is beautiful. ¡Gracias!Simon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-17162716559610031042014-10-25T14:34:24.841+02:002014-10-25T14:34:24.841+02:00Manuel, imagine that you are an employer with two ...Manuel, imagine that you are an employer with two employees. One is a 21-year old living at home with his parents. The other is 45 years old, has a wife and two children to support. Are you allowed to say that I will pay the older person more than the 21 year old? <br /><br /><br /><br />If you are living in a similar place to me, the answer is no. It would be illegal to pay people different amounts for doing the same work. In the same way, it would be illegal for you to pay a man more than a woman for doing the same work (quite right too!) <br /><br /><br /><br />But suppose that, in addition to the money that you pay them for doing the work, the 45 year old with a family of four got 4 x €500 = €2000 a month as an unconditional basic income, whereas the 21 year old only got €500, wouldn't that solve your problem. You could pay both of them a modest amount (say €1000 a month) and everyone would be happy. You would be paying €2000 a month, the 45 year old would be getting €3000 a month, and the 21 year old would be getting €1500 a month. <br /><br /><br /><br />Under the current system, if you want the 45 year old to be able to support his family, you have to pay him €3000 a month, and you have to pay the 21 year old €3000 too. That's €6000 a month. You would be unable to compete with labour costs in China (for example), where wage costs could be only €2000.<br /><br /><br /><br />The alternative is that you pay both your workers €1500 a month (€3000 in total for you), and that the taxpayer has to find an additional €1500 a month to top up the income of the family breadwinner so that they can afford to live. That's effectively the system that we have in many western countries. And of course, it gets a lot of people very angry - why should my taxes go to pay for their houseing costs, etc. etc.<br /><br /><br /><br />For me, having a Unconditional Basic Income of €500 per personne is infinitely more intelligent.Simon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530776363222965313.post-67042609659409646052014-10-25T12:05:25.961+02:002014-10-25T12:05:25.961+02:00Please, could you elaborate on the sentence "...Please, could you elaborate on the sentence "They cannot decide to pay people more because they have a family than they would to a single 21-year old living at home with their parents. " I don't understand it.Simon Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02605233720415886802noreply@blogger.com