An economy is maybe the movement of resources in a defined society.
Doesn't have to be money, bartering would still be an economy. Scientists probably track social animals and how they interact and manage their resources, that'd be an economy.
All the various stats and measures are just ways of aggregating the activity to try and model and measure it in ways that are hopefully meaningful and have predictive power in order to make decisions.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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An economy is the name for the interconnected system that turns human labour and Potential energy into useable things for people.
I think you probably have to add some kind of trade of labour for others labour or goods.
Essentially money is a representation of a commitment from the government to provide you with labour at some later date. The economy is the means of fulfilling those promises of the exchange of your labour for the goods you need.
A market economy allows the Parker pricing mechanism to determine the value of labour and the types of goods that are needed where as a centrally planned economy an authority would determine the wages and goods that are produced.
Much like a engine converts gasoline to mechanical power the encompassing turns labour into the things you need.
Two economists were out on a hike. They came across a pile of horse sh*t and one said to the other "I'll pay you $100 to eat some"
The other thinks it's funny and accepts, takes a bite and receives $100. Afterwards he challenges the first economist to do the same who also accepts, takes a bite and is given back his $100.
The original horse sh*t eater ponders and feels sad, saying "I'm not sure we really accomplished anything" to which the other replies "what do you mean? We just contributed $200 to the GDP"
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An economy is the name for the interconnected system that turns human labour and Potential energy into useable things for people.
I think you probably have to add some kind of trade of labour for others labour or goods.
Essentially money is a representation of a commitment from the government to provide you with labour at some later date. The economy is the means of fulfilling those promises of the exchange of your labour for the goods you need.
A market economy allows the Parker pricing mechanism to determine the value of labour and the types of goods that are needed where as a centrally planned economy an authority would determine the wages and goods that are produced.
Much like a engine converts gasoline to mechanical power the encompassing turns labour into the things you need.
I googled "what is the Parker pricing mechanism" and the firsy resukt was your post.
Can you elaborate on "Parker pricing mechanism"?
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Some things are a matter of reason, others a matter of debate. Then there are those that only the heart knows, in that indescribable way, are true.
Google AI had an answer that was rather simple, but accurate based on my understanding. The answer was a blend of both quantitative and qualitative reasons so to some extent it is a man made concept. Here it is:
“ A country's economy is basically the giant system of buying and selling that happens within its borders. Here's a breakdown of the key parts:
People and Businesses: People work in businesses that produce goods (like factories and farms) and services (like teachers and doctors).
Production and Consumption: Businesses use resources to create goods and services that people then buy and consume.
Money Flow: Money flows through the economy as people buy goods and services from businesses, and businesses pay people for their work.
The health of the economy depends on how well all these parts work together. A strong economy means there's a healthy balance between production, consumption, and money flow. This can lead to things like more jobs, higher wages, and a better overall standard of living for the people in the country.”
Based on that definition there is a balance between how much and how freely money is changing hands (quantitative) and how good standards of living are (qualitative).
This is probably as good an answer. One person's version of a good economy may be different from another person's version of a good economy (capitalism versus communism being an example of economic systems) and largely subjective. Communism (or more accurately Marxism) in theory focuses more on production above all else which is controlled by the working people. Labor Theory of Value (now defunct but a factor in the industrial revolution) explains that the economic value of a produced good is measured by the amount of socially necessary labor (the tougher or more labour intensive it is to make a product, the higher the value of said product), which became the predominating view around capitalism. Nowadays the subjective theory of value is the main modern theory behind economics. Perfect example of perceived value is lobster, a once worthless source of food cheaper than beans and considered a sign of poverty and food only fit for servants is now considered a delicacy and highly sought after. Another example is diamonds and perceived high value, brands are another one (why does one purchase a 3000$ handbag).
An isolated village society on an island away from modern civilization still has an economy, and it may be good based on that society need.
A group of kids exchanging Pokemon cards based on rarity and demand is an economy.
Economic collapse can occur when the value of goods drop below the ability to sustain. Panic of 1837 in the US was largely as a result of the crashing of cotton prices and lack of a central bank. We saw a localized recession in Alberta as a result of our energy dominated economy impacted by the oil crash, despite the rest of Canada being largely unscathed. The Soviet Union fell largely due to an economic collapse that precipitated an eventual political collapse.
Most people will perceive the economy through their own personal situation. If I am out of a job and struggle to make ends meet, my perception of the economy will be poor even if unemployment is 5% or lower. Governments run and get elected based on perception of a good or bad economy.
It will be interesting how the world's economies adapt to AI and eventual AGI.
The economy is a giant Ponzi scheme built on extraction of free (yet limited) energy and resources from Earth, use of those to create "stuff" we can use to fill up our underutilized landfills, plus a seemingly infinite number of initiatives to increase demand for that which we do not need, and which will require more humans and free energy to satisfy. Repeat until keypressed, or until resource depletion.
The economy is a giant Ponzi scheme built on extraction of free (yet limited) energy and resources from Earth, use of those to create "stuff" we can use to fill up our underutilized landfills, plus a seemingly infinite number of initiatives to increase demand for that which we do not need, and which will require more humans and free energy to satisfy. Repeat until keypressed, or until resource depletion.
P.s.: don't tell my kids!
I also like Fight Club!
We.should hang out.
__________________
Some things are a matter of reason, others a matter of debate. Then there are those that only the heart knows, in that indescribable way, are true.
The economy is the set of systems that have developed to decide how to allocate the set of scarce goods that we have been able to capture.
The really important parts in this statement are, what are goods? in a modern economy this probably includes the electrons we have capture to power our electronics... what does capture mean? when we look at the way things like land or clean air can play a role in economic transactions show that sometimes you can partially but not fully capture the same resource. And what does Allocate mean? this is where services really enter the economy, we pay a hockey player to entertain people, he does not specifically participate in the capture of goods, but we as a society have valued his entertainment in a way that we are willing to allocate resources to him in exchange for continuing to entertain us, and this type of transaction can extend beyond entertainment into compassion or reciprocity.
The important take away is every economic decision is around developing more resources or allocating the resources that exist.
Generally the bad feelings people have seem to be surrounding a feeling that resources are not being allocated in a way they deem equitable, nobody believes that Jeff Bezos creates 200,000 x the value to the economy as the typical person, most people believe that some basic level of participation in the benefits of society (having food, housing, transportation, communication, and entertainment) should come from a basic level of effort, and many don't feel that happening for themselves. Many see how slow and expensive it has become to get anything done, and feel we have over allocated our resources to excessive diligence that doesn't bring economic value (even if it can be recorded as economic activity). Theses are the feelings we are contending with, even for people who aren't resident know it alls that have taken the time to listen to economic and philosophy experts give them a way to articulate those feelings.
edit; I'll also add, it's not a feeling I empathize with much, but many believe that 'others' are able to participate in the basic benefits without a basic level of effort, and are not pleased with that either. It is another wedge where the economy gets a bad reputation.
Interesting. Maybe the economy is something like the measure of progress in relation to the time and resources used to achieve it?
I feel like value of the finite time each human has to sepnd on achieving economic progress vs. doing anything else more fulfilling has to inform the understanding here.
__________________
Some things are a matter of reason, others a matter of debate. Then there are those that only the heart knows, in that indescribable way, are true.
