“Race to the bottom” is a phrase that usually describes the effects of globalization—the degradation of wages and working conditions that occurs when localized markets formerly insulated from one another by regulatory boundaries are suddenly thrust into competition within a newly emergent, larger-scale market. Beyond free trade, races to the bottom characterize many of the economic, social, and cultural upheavals we’ve observed over the past few decades, as the internet eliminates informational borders: What is journalistic clickbait if not another kind of race to the bottom? If an unfettered worldwide market makes certain things inexorably worse, though, it also produces an equivalent and equally familiar drive to make other things better: Theoretically, the same globalized competition that is so harsh on the supply side works wonders on the demand side, yielding unprecedented quality, variety, and affordability in consumer products. There’s plenty of room at the bottom, as Richard Feynman said, but at the top, we only see the winners that manage to squeeze into the available slots, which create an illusion of widespread success that is best appreciated from the consumer perspective.
#113: Room at the Top
#113: Room at the Top
#113: Room at the Top
“Race to the bottom” is a phrase that usually describes the effects of globalization—the degradation of wages and working conditions that occurs when localized markets formerly insulated from one another by regulatory boundaries are suddenly thrust into competition within a newly emergent, larger-scale market. Beyond free trade, races to the bottom characterize many of the economic, social, and cultural upheavals we’ve observed over the past few decades, as the internet eliminates informational borders: What is journalistic clickbait if not another kind of race to the bottom? If an unfettered worldwide market makes certain things inexorably worse, though, it also produces an equivalent and equally familiar drive to make other things better: Theoretically, the same globalized competition that is so harsh on the supply side works wonders on the demand side, yielding unprecedented quality, variety, and affordability in consumer products. There’s plenty of room at the bottom, as Richard Feynman said, but at the top, we only see the winners that manage to squeeze into the available slots, which create an illusion of widespread success that is best appreciated from the consumer perspective.