James_K comments on Reflections on rationality a year out - Less Wrong

90 [deleted] 31 March 2011 01:35AM

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Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 01 April 2011 01:30:47AM *  3 points [-]

Your comment reduces my confidence that I understand the term "externality". Until I read it, I tentatively believed that "X has positive externalities" means that X is an action taken voluntarily by a person (or firm) and has positive expected global utility. Most economic discourse assumes that all voluntary actions taken by a person (firm) have positive expected personal (organizational) utility. But in the present environment, counterfeiting money has according to my models negative global expected utility by reducing (by a small amount) the value of every asset denominated in the currency being counterfeited (e.g., cash and loans). (Counterfeiting is a member of the class or set of a diffuse harms, which by the way do not seem to get the attention they deserve here on Less Wrong.)

(Buying junk I do not want has negative global expected utility, too, under my models.)

Comment author: James_K 01 April 2011 08:24:45PM 4 points [-]

The textbook definition of "externality" is where some activity has an effect (whether positive or negative) on people who are neither party to that activity, nor in a contractual relationship with those people.

So, creating a meetup group that other people will enjoy has a positive externality, but note if SilasBarta had been hired by those people to create that group there would be no externality (unless it also benefited some people who hadn't hired him).

As for the reference to counterfeiting, that I believe is (based on previous discussions with SilasBarta) a sly reference to Keynesian economics, and you should probably leave it to one side if you're still trying to get your head around externalities.

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 01 April 2011 09:03:18PM 0 points [-]

Thanks.

Comment author: James_K 02 April 2011 02:43:54AM 1 point [-]

Happy to help, I like to contribute my economics knowledge to the group when its germane.