the utilities of both parties might be utterly incomparable, or the effort of both players might be very different
IIRC, it was covered in Planecrash also!
Sometimes altruism is truly selfless (if we don't use too broad tautological definition of self-interest).
Sometimes altruism is actually an enlightened/disguised/corrupted/decadent self-interest.
I feel like there is some sense in which first kind is better then second, but can we have more of whatever kind, please?
For high-frequency (or mid-frequency) trading, 1% of the transaction is 3 or 4 times the expected value from the trade.
I'm very much not sure discouraging HFT is a bad thing.
this probably doesn't matter unless the transaction tax REPLACES other taxes rather than being in addition to
I imagine that it would replace/reduce some of the other taxes so the government would get the same amount of money.
it encourages companies to do things in-house rather than outsourcing or partnering, since inside-company "transactions" aren't real money and aren't taxed
But normal taxes have the same effect, don't they?
I came up with the decision theory problem. It has the same moral as xor-blackmail, but I think it's much easier to understand:
Omega has chosen you for an experiment:
You received an offer from Omega. Which amount do you choose?
I didn't come up with a сatchy name, though.
First (possibly dumb) thought: could it be compensated by printing fewer large bills? Again, poor people would not care, but big business transactions with cash would become less convenient.
Wow, really? I guess it's American thing. I think I know only one person with the credit card. And she only uses it up to the interest-free limit to "farm" her reputation with the bank in case she really needs a loan, so she doesn't actually pay the fee.
Epistemic state: thoughts off the top of my head, not the economist at all, talked with Claude about it
Why is there almost nowhere a small (something like 1%) universal tax on digital money transfers? It looks like a good idea to me:
I see probable negative effects... but doesn't VAT and individial income tax just already have the same effects, so if this tax replace [parts of] those nothing will change much?
Also, as I understand, it would discourage high-frequency trading. I'm not sure if this would be a feature or a bug, but my current very superficial understanding leans towards the former.
Why is it a bad idea?
Only one mention of Jules Verne in answers seems weird to me.
First and foremost, "The Mysterious Island". (But maybe it has already been read at nine?)
I guess the big problem for someone who tries to do it not in small form is that while you write the story it is already getting old. There are writers who can write a novel in a season, but not many. At least if we talk about good writers. Hm-m-m, did rationalists try to hire Stephen King? :)
I tried to get a grant to write one, but it was rejected.
Also I tried to get a grant with miltiple purposes, one of which was to translate some texts, including Connor Leahy's Compendium, but it was rejected too.