Technology, Teeth, and Social Activities

Yesterday I finished a rather hefty essay, "The Political Economy of Growth and Technology", that draws heavily on my current studies at the LSE on macroeconomics. There is an interesting econometric and conceptual history in the subject that eventually came to the realisation that the real determinant of long-run economic growth wasn't labour and capital, but rather education and technology. Alas, the neoclassical model which lumps land and capital into the same factor of production doesn't differentiate well between productive and unproductive investments, despite the same model justly railing against economic rents in other contexts. The net result is something that wage and welfare earners know quite well from experience already; despite the real price of many technological goods declining, the cost of monopolised necessities (especially land rents, but also so parts of healthcare etc) are increasing faster than the payments they receive; it's the continuing lesson of Progress and Poverty.

A few days ago I made my second visit to the local dentist who had to extract the second dead tooth, which was fractured well beyond any possibility of life. The third tooth, however, survived and has been patched up. I'm still a little sore, physically, and a lot more sore, psychologically, from the experience. It is now the point that I have to look seriously at implant options, but with three teeth down in total and an estimated $5K per replacement that's no longer the sort of money I have readily available; due to the circumstances at the time I threw pretty much every spare red penny I had to purchase the Southbank apartment, which I still haven't moved into yet (I've only just required sufficient coin of the realm to pay for what will inevitably be significant moving costs). Some have suggested "dental holidays" to places where the technology and technique are sound, but the labour costs somewhat lower; Thailand and the PRC both come to mind. But that will have to wait until 2022.

The weekend was a rather full one; it included a dinner with Anthony L., where we engaged in our usual wide-ranging plotting and geopolitical assessments, and especially in relation to prospective infrastructure changes in PRC. The following night was a regular catch-up dinner with caseopaya and a viewing of the new series of The Blacklist. Last night I visited Liza D., whom I hadn't seen for quite some years; expert in many matters theatrical, recent political lobbyist of some notable success, and we share a bond with Aotearoa. I must also mention that I've had multiple people in the past several days mention, quite independently, how much they enjoy reading my journal which is somewhat perplexing for me, but I promise to keep writing! One remarkable comment came from a relatively recent visitor to Australia who initially found the Melbourne lockdown period quite challenging, but found that my writings offered some insight and empathy to the life, aims, achievements, and struggles of a real human being. I found their remarks quite beautiful; a touch of old-fashioned human social solidarity. Let's hope some of it remains on this Earth.