Trying to think a bit harder about this—maybe companies are sort of like this? To manage my online shop I need someone to maintain the web, someone to handle marketing, etc. I need many people to work for me to make it work, and I need all of them at once. Let’s suppose that I pay my workers directly proportionally to the amount of sales they manage to make it more obvious.
As I painted it, this is not about amortizing a fixed cost. And I cannot subdivide the task—if I tell my team I expect to make only 10 sales and pay accordingly they are going to tell me go eff myself (though maybe in the magical world where there are no task-switching costs this breaks down).
Another try: maybe a fairness constraint can force a minimum. The government has given me the okay to sell my new cryonics procedure, but only if I can make enough for everyone.
Hmm. I feel like it’s relevant that your example relies on trade, which we’re trying to eliminate. Therefore, if all of the other reasons for trade go away, this example would be irrelevant.
But can we recreate it elsewhere? Perhaps there is some task which is time sensitive, but cannot be done by one person (in their remaining marginal time) at a speed which does not decrease marginal gains. Information sharing comes to mind, but that seems to have already been accomplished by the society outlined above.
Yeah, I think we’re in agreement. I can’t think why there would ever be a minimum, except to exceed the break-even point on fixed costs.
Trying to think a bit harder about this—maybe companies are sort of like this? To manage my online shop I need someone to maintain the web, someone to handle marketing, etc. I need many people to work for me to make it work, and I need all of them at once. Let’s suppose that I pay my workers directly proportionally to the amount of sales they manage to make it more obvious.
As I painted it, this is not about amortizing a fixed cost. And I cannot subdivide the task—if I tell my team I expect to make only 10 sales and pay accordingly they are going to tell me go eff myself (though maybe in the magical world where there are no task-switching costs this breaks down).
Another try: maybe a fairness constraint can force a minimum. The government has given me the okay to sell my new cryonics procedure, but only if I can make enough for everyone.
Hmm. I feel like it’s relevant that your example relies on trade, which we’re trying to eliminate. Therefore, if all of the other reasons for trade go away, this example would be irrelevant.
But can we recreate it elsewhere? Perhaps there is some task which is time sensitive, but cannot be done by one person (in their remaining marginal time) at a speed which does not decrease marginal gains. Information sharing comes to mind, but that seems to have already been accomplished by the society outlined above.