Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
I hope Adam is right about this but I’m skeptical.
My fear remote work is sort of like streaming video services — so undeniably more convenient than the alternative that it wins out, but leaves us in a worse equilibrium where people are just home alone more. https://t.co/aOrrlCR8lm
Adam Ozimek @ModeledBehavior
Important context for remote work: the status quo of socialization was broken. My conjecture is de-centering work in our social lives, giving more flexibility with both time use and where we live, can all help. https://t.co/aEIYUFNS3a
2:32 PM · May 11, 2022
85 Reposts · 1.22K Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
Hopefully everyone resists that and spends more time with family (if applicable) and does regular lunches and hangouts with non-work friends and just lives a happier, less work-cd true life.
But my fear is Slacking Alone plus more Netflix.
2:35 PM · May 11, 2022
9 Reposts · 466 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
At any rate the technology isn’t going to go away no matter what I or anyone else thinks about it.
But there’s something like a National Hanging Out Crisis afoot and we need to encourage people to lean against it and think of pro-hangout policy ideas if we can.
2:37 PM · May 11, 2022
33 Reposts · 493 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
If road-building and upkeep was financed by user fees (VMT tax, congestion pricing, etc) we wouldn’t need to have dumb arguments about induced demand.
5:54 PM · May 11, 2022
3 Reposts · 141 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
What you would see is that induced demand is real but also not an argument against building things — if a transportation project doesn’t induce any demand it’s pointless!
The question is whether the cost of the project is commensurate with use.
5:56 PM · May 11, 2022
2 Reposts · 76 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
The issue with current policy is that the quest for highways that are both uncrowded and free requires massive overbuilding that’s subsidized by taxes on productive labor and capital, generating lots of wasted land and excess pollution.
5:59 PM · May 11, 2022
10 Reposts · 99 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
We used to use the gas tax as a crude proxy for a user fee but EV adoption is making this worse and worse especially since they’re so heavy that they actually generate more wear and tear on the roads (which in turn causes pollution). Desperate need for some better ideas here.
6:05 PM · May 11, 2022
2 Reposts · 49 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
It suggests to me that despite their differences, Democrats are good.
Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald
Last night, 57 House Members voted NO on the bill to send another $40 billion (on top of the $14b already spent) to the war in Ukraine.
All 57 NO votes were Republicans. *All Squad members* joined all other Democrats to vote YES.
Does this tell us anything about these factions? https://t.co/jEDSKD3jVa
6:44 PM · May 11, 2022
33 Reposts · 706 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
This is a great post but also a good reminder that nobody actually knows how to measure inflation, real world financial transactions are nominal, and monetary policy should focus on nominal income rather than inflation which nobody can measure.
fullstackeconomics.com
Why the government took home prices out of its main inflation index
1:32 AM · May 12, 2022
8 Reposts · 91 Likes