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from the are-you-a-net-gain-or-a-net-drain? dept.
Many jobs have spillover effects on the rest of society. For instance, the value of new treatments discovered by biomedical researchers is far greater than what they or their employers get paid, so they have positive spillovers. Other jobs have negative spillovers, such as those that generate pollution.
A forthcoming paper, by economists at UPenn and Yale,1 reports a survey of the economic literature on these spillover benefits for the 11 highest-earning professions.
There's very little literature, so all these estimates are very, very uncertain, and should be not be taken literally. But it's interesting reading.
Here are the bottom lines – see more detail on the estimates below. (Note that we already discussed an older version of this paper, but the estimates have been updated since then.)
(Emphasis in original retained.)
At the top, researchers who generate +$950,440 in positive externalities; at the bottom, financiers who generate -$104,000 in negative externalities. In a glaring omission, telephone sanitisers were not listed.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by stretch611 on Wednesday June 28 2017, @11:50PM (21 children)
CEOs
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Gaaark on Thursday June 29 2017, @12:22AM (20 children)
Sports 'stars'/'athletes'.
People who would do badly at "Would you like fries with that?" but get angry when their not paid more and more millions for hitting a baseball.
And CEO's and politicians.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @12:31AM (1 child)
"when their not paid more ..."
People who don't fucking know the difference between "their" and "they're".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @03:22PM
I guess someone has never typed faster than their brain can autocorrect. Get some new fingers slowpoke
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @01:44AM (9 children)
Politicians might actually need to be paid more, they take on a hell of a lot of responsibility sometimes and it might help a little with corruption. The ability to tell someone to piss off because you're doing fine. Corruption is what is killing us.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday June 29 2017, @02:11AM
Politicians can always get more by letting others pay so no salary will be enough. The solution is to be found elsewhere.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @02:59AM (4 children)
Politicians might actually need to be paid more
No. When you look at the 5-star healthcare plan they get while deciding on a fuck-you plan for everybody else, it could easily be said that they're already paid too much for delivering bad results.
it might help a little with corruption
Y'know what would help a lot?
Prosecutors[1] doing their jobs and enforcing the Emoluments Clause[2] in the Constitution that says NO PUBLIC OFFICIAL can accept anything that even smells like a bribe.
Now, clearly, "campaign contributions" have been given a waiver.
The way to fix that is publicly-funded election campaigns.
they take on a hell of a lot of responsibility
...and get to bask in the glory when they handle it right.
Spike Lee/Ozzie Davis summarized it pretty well: "Always do the right thing."
Another way to say it is "Do the most good for the greatest number of people."
[1] There's another that's overpaid for the results they get WRT justice.
[2] That's actually "Emoluments Clauses"; it's important enough that they put it in there TWICE.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @03:52AM
Fortunately, they stacked the court with incompetent jurists that will find whatever ruling they're looking for. Just look at what the likes of Thomas and Scalia ruled over their tenure on the court. I don't think we've ever had jurists on the bench that were that lacking in competence. Hell, Thomas couldn't even be bothered to ask questions for years on end while in session. They regularly ignored precedence and the constitution when inconvenient.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @06:42AM (1 child)
That's small thinking. We pay the people who decide on trillion dollars budgets a shlub salary of 180k. Then you wonder why they don't put the people's interest first. Pay them like big company CEOs. That is their level of responsibility.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @08:31AM
Yup, the current model means only millionaires get represented in the legislature.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 29 2017, @12:29PM
And how will you qualify for public funding? What's to prevent someone from turning that into a business model?
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday June 29 2017, @04:18AM
They get paid quite enough (starting at over three times average salary).
Politicians who actually take responsibility for their actions are about as common as rocking horse shit (YMMV).
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @07:30AM
Less carrot and more stick.
It works for leakers and security clearances. Try to bribe them, if they accept, shoot them in the head.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @10:43AM
When was the last time a politician went to prison for their decisions? We could start with the murder of thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. "War" is just a term for murder that nobody gets held responsible for.
No, they get to make the decisions without ever being held responsible.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday June 29 2017, @02:12AM (5 children)
Hey, I'm not a big fan of sports or sports stars either (in fact I think spectator sports are a complete waste of time), but I will admit that professional sports do generate a lot of economic effects. All those game tickets, cable TV sports packages, etc. add up to a lot of money, and a lot of employment for many people. And the sports stars at least are actually doing a big part of that, because they have unique physical talents that very few people can match. I can't say the same for CEOs or politicians; they're just bullshitters who got lucky or had the right connections. They're really leaches on society or the companies they work for (I'll throw in an exception for CEOs who are actually founders, rather than just hired guns as most of them are).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Thursday June 29 2017, @08:19AM (3 children)
You identify generation of economic activity - but what is the societal benefit there?
(Score: 1) by ewk on Thursday June 29 2017, @10:56AM
No economy => no society ?
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday June 29 2017, @03:14PM (1 child)
Um, do you really need an answer to that? As the other poster said, no economy = no society and no civilization. Seemingly pointless stuff like that gives people jobs and makes the economy function. I'm sure sports fans can give you intangible reasons sports benefit society too, though I disagree with them. Likewise, I can give you reasons that the music I prefer benefits society substantially and everyone would be far better off if they stopped listening to certain genres of music I don't like, and listened instead to music that I do like. Or I could tell you why society would be better if people stopped watching TV shows I don't like, and instead spent their TV-watching time watching movies or TV shows that I approve of.
In your mind, is something a waste of time if it doesn't have an immediately apparent benefit to society, such as curing cancer? Do you never watch movies, listen to music, or do anything at all for sheer entertainment? You sound like a very dull person. Heck, I could go much further: do you spend any time exercising? What's the societal benefit of that? Some would say reduction of resources needed to keep you healthy and avoid expensive medical treatments. But why not just euthanize you instead? Which brings us to the problem of: what's the point of even having people or a society? Why not just euthanize everyone at once?
Maybe you should go take some philosophy classes.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday July 03 2017, @10:06AM
> In your mind, is something a waste of time if it doesn't have an immediately apparent benefit to society, such as curing cancer?
> Do you never watch movies, listen to music, or do anything at all for sheer entertainment?
You missed my point. The "societal benefit" is the entertainment provided. The economic benefit/whatever is at best a fringe benefit.
I thought the OP was emphasising the revenue generated above the actual entertainment provided, which was, to my mind, the wrong weighting. I Should have been a bit clearer...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 29 2017, @05:27PM
There is another big effect of pro sports. They are ritual combat and to the extent that they substitute for actual combat (war) they save society a huge amount of damage and expense. Without the World Cup (soccer) to soak up a lot of testosterone, I wonder how many more countries would solve their problems with a small war?
I'm looking forward to a future where international disputes are not solved by armies, but by "arbitration", using national sports teams.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 29 2017, @03:05AM
Sports stars are like actors. There is public demand for them, they generate ticket sales and more importantly, ad revenue. Attention is paid to their personalities, personal lives, disputes/fights, etc. They are branded not just by performance but also personality to extent (Lebron James is undeniably a brand). Of course, the competitive aspect is a little different than acting.
I have probably read a better article on this subject, but this one explains it pretty well:
https://www.si.com/thecauldron/2016/10/20/professional-athletes-underpaid [si.com]
Also consider that there is a significant risk of injury. Torn muscles, broken bones and such are bad enough, but some athletes (read: American football players) face traumatic brain injuries which are devastating on many levels and have led to suicides. Would you rather be quadriplegic or deeply mentally ill? So there is more risk than what most actors face (not sure about stunt men), and more medical treatment needed.
CEOs and politicians don't normally face broken bones or traumatic brain injury due to the job. Maybe a shooting or two, but that's why they hire security.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday June 29 2017, @09:41AM
sudo mod me up