The Online Gig Economy’s ‘Race to the Bottom’
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
I think westerners have a warped sense of money due to news report about '$X billion people live on 2 dollars a day' meme.
5 dollars in karachi wont get you very far, good pakistani professional charge as much US professionals, and instead of working for website that nickle and dimes, they normally have better options such as moving to Saudi Arabia of Qatar to get regular 5000 dollar / month salary that professionals make.
I hate how journalists always tend to think the world is somehow zero sum, somebody in Pakistan getting a job means somebody in rural Ohio is losing out ?
Does the journalist know that the US taxpayer has for over 20 years being providing significant aid to Pakistan, just to prevent the place from going full terrorist Mecca ?
In 2018 its possible that Pakistan would again need an IMF bailout ( funded by US taxpayers of course ).
I singled out Pakistan because the author did, but in general the more economic activity moves online the better it is for global productivity.
More saving in third world countries results in more development there, resulting in further capacity to save, then maybe someday they would have the disposable income to finally afford the 5 dollar coffee from Starbucks, or better yet not need american aid.
Instead of "hating", maybe we could acknowledge the problem and try to come up with a solution? Not that I'm able to come up with a good one.
A bit off topic, but when I see adults who lack a certain concept, I take note of teaching my kids about that concept. For instance, I want to teach my kids the concept of "velocity of money" by adopting an internal currency (e.g., stuffed toys), where you can "spend" by asking a favor, and "earn" by doing a favor. Over time, my wife and I might also increase the pool of "money" whenever someone does something especially nice. No blockchain required ;-)
https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?utf8=&search_in=everywher...