[ExI] How slow is capitalism?

[Jones Murphy]

Keith is on to something here. While I obviously wouldn't agree with
any law prohibiting me from doing what I do now, I certainly didn't
leave physics for Wall St because quantum optics or general relativity
were boring. If the playing field were tilted to the point where I
could make more money doing physics or some other sort of scientific
research, I would consider it. Unlike the allegedly
anti-government(and I emphasize allegedly, due to how few of them move
to the vast area of the planet which remains de facto ungoverned)
types, I do think government can play a constructive role by
incentivizing people to exercise their individual choices in certain
ways. Relationships have been observed quite consisdtently between
economic growth and R&D investment, and those can be translated into
tax receipts and thus incentives to capable youngsters to do R&D
instead of say trading.

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 9:42 AM, F. C. Moulton <moulton at moulton.com> wrote:
> On 04/27/2011 09:39 PM, Keith Henson wrote:
>> You are right.  The government should change the laws so MIT EEs, MEs,
>> etc graduate don't get sucked into Wall Street casinos and do
>> something useful.
>
> I disagree.  I had written several detail objections but I have deleted
> them because the following was the most important of my list.
>
> The issue of individual liberty.  It is ultimately the choice of each
> individual if that individual wants to work in a financial services firm
> who wants to employee them designing trading software or if the
> individual wants to go to work for a Silicon Valley firm who wants to
> employee them designing circuits.
>
> Yes this means that people go to medical school to become doctors and
> then spend the rest of their lives writing novels instead of practicing
> medicine.   And people study physics and engineering and then spend
> their lives in finance.  That is what individual choice is all about.
>
> Fred
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