If you are engaged in building out the web by creating applications, content, whatever, you’re making the recession worse, and we should all thank you for it.
Tyler Cowen, who is no slouch, gives us the idea of the “human capital dividend,” which threatens to kill GDP and give us much better lives. This is worth your time.
Free stuff on the Web has made this economic downturn more severe. For many of us, the Web really is more fun than a trip to the store, which makes it easier for us to cut our spending. Although the iPhone has been earning lots for Apple, our spending on high-tech goodies does not make up for falling demand elsewhere. A PC and broadband cost something, but for those millions who have paid up, further exploration is essentially free.
I still like gadgets, but I’ll admit the net has changed my priorities, toward valuing time spent in an new place at the intersection of working, learning, and socializing. And it’s getting more interesting every month. ‘Post-Materialism’ sounds as pretentious as hell, but it’s not about everyone quitting their job: it’s about spending the results of your labor on better things.
Priority shifts like this, multiplied over millions of (especially young) people, would have interesting consequences. It makes me wonder if we’ll come out of the current recession and head straight back down to the MallMart for more crap that’ll just end up in the garage. Kinda makes me wonder if we want to.
