Economic automation and it's effects.

[smarterthanone]

Capital and workers are just the same as goods. If workers or capital move from one country to another then the comparative advantages change. Money is a product. Workers are no different than capital goods.

Also, this is also Macro country level. On a micro level its always better. Since nobody here is claiming to be The Master Planner and control all production of every product, macro level is irrelevant. It is only good for demonstrating the idea. On a micro level it never fails.

1. It is always more profitable for a company to buy the cheapest (of comparable quality) supplies.

2. It is always better for consumers to buy cheaper (of comparable quality) products.

3. It is always better for job seekers to have the highest level and paying jobs available. (Unless they are morons, then its better for them if we had stone age economies but lets just assume average people for now)

All three of these are maximized by completely free exchange of ideas, capital, workers, products.

[Jsbrads]

On 4/15/2017 at 3:36 AM, ofd said:

Sure, but that was at a time when it took a lot of man-hours to build a car and when unskilled laborers could work in production after a short training time with the machines they were working with.

If you have a look at page 2 of https://www.bls.gov/mlr/2006/03/art3full.pdfyou will see that the percentage of jobs were automation was introduced has gone back from 1910 to 2000. Newer statistics give you the same picture. 

If an industry competes with marginal costs of production, and the operational steps can be automated, the number of jobs in that industry will decrease over time. 

It's not simply that some jobs like typists will disappear but that whole branches will be automated. If your jobs depend on making fast decisions (say 5 - 30 seconds) your job can as well be done by a machine or a computer, when the workflow has been standardized and adjusted. 

Your response followed my comment delineating the professional horse shoe making blacksmiths, moving into the wheel manufacturing tasks at an auto company. 

[ofd]

I will leave that here https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-21/how-just-14-people-make-500-000-tons-of-steel-a-year-in-austria

[Jsbrads]

And let me guess. Those people are paid more than the balcksmithing staff at Ford? Compensating for inflation?

The millions of farmers displaced over a very short time, all finding positions in cities as soon as they needed them. They ended up at entry level jobs at places like Woolworth that paid more money more dependably with more time off and shorter hours the day they arrived in the city. Even if they never got a raise or promotion, they were better off, tho one ended up CEO of a competing national chain.