. It was just an example like so many others such as GPs, accountants, solicitors...even taxi drivers want the number of licenses reduced...all to reduce competition and keep/raise prices. Of course the official lines from all these bodies is that quality for the customer can be assured, but would they and at what cost?
You don't need a licence to operate as an accountant. You don't even need a qualification. You don't even need to be literate. Bertie Ahern called himself an accountant because he had worked for a while in the Mater Hospital accounts dept.
Hi ONQ,
I know you have raised issues in the past regarding the term "Architect" and I didn't intend to bring any attention to the use of this by qualified and experienced architects like your goodself. My point is that the reason I suspect that the RIAI are bringing this in at all is to restrict the supply of what it deems as "architects" to protect their pay. It was just an example like so many others such as GPs, accountants, solicitors...even taxi drivers want the number of licenses reduced...all to reduce competition and keep/raise prices. Of course the official lines from all these bodies is that quality for the customer can be assured, but would they and at what cost?
You don't need a licence to operate as an accountant. You don't even need a qualification. You don't even need to be literate. Bertie Ahern called himself an accountant because he had worked for a while in the Mater Hospital accounts dept.
Did we need the CSO to tell us that we have some of the highest prices for goods in Europe? No ..just try doing the grocery shopping
You are both right and wrong here.As for the market, it does not all come down to supply and demand.
If that were the case all the people in one jurisdiction would be driving Ladas or suchlike.
The truth is far more complex.
Different people supply different goods at different prices.
There is not just one market for even one good or service, but several.
Yes, marketing is designed to distinguish your product from others and make it stand out in some way or another. But all that results in, is that initially very similar products, like yoghourt, are essentially being devided into different products altogether. The people that buy Müller yoghurt probably don't care too much about Tesco's own brand and vice versa. But this is the beauty of an open and free market where peope are totally free to decide what they perceive as good and bad value, and then vote on this by either buying or not buying.And sometimes these differences are perceived and not actual and prices can go higher!
That's good marketing and product differentiation - think of the Müller yoghurt ads with Joanna Lumley.
People decide on what they are willing to pay for a product based on what they can afford. Some may feel generous, compassionate or charitable to pay more, but that does not generally come into the decision making process. Look at LCD TVs for example. The price of these has been driven down ever more in recent years (a 40" TV cost €10,000 just ten years ago, and can be bought now for about €500), but this has been a good thing for producers of TVs and has made many many more jobs available for the workers who make them. It has also been tremendously good for the general public especially poorer people who never were able to afford such things. This is the power of supply and demand in a competitive market.Most business customers understand that others have to live and to make enough today to continue in business.
And most layperson consumers aren't so bloody minded as to expect people to beggar themselves.
Their own children may be seeking employment in such businesses so there is a balance struck.
You are using the term monetarists wrong here. Monetarism is a monetary theory and not one of price or supply and demand.Thinking about economics in some idealized impersonal way is where monetarists fail.
Very good points here, but you have to bear in mind that it is mostly government intervention that massively drives up needs for certain professions. An obvious example in this country would be engineers, architect, bricklayers, etc. In my own profession IT, it was the Y2K and easy money policy in the late 90s that drove the "need" for IT professionals through the roof. It was a good thing that this was corrected, and it was a good thing that no artificial demand was created in the IT industry after the bust; the industry very quickly recovered and lots of people retooled.In terms of the professions, apart from familial issues, most are mobile and their professional competences are transferable.
Sometimes prices don't even fall to near to the break even level - its easier to supply a different product or service or relocate.
The aftermath of driving professionals to relocate or to supply other products is that when the market recovers there are shortages.
And this sends the cost of professional services skyward again - so there is a benefit in not pile-driving professional fees through the floor.
The same thing occurs in a recovering retail market, where accumulated profits can help weather the lean times, but then sales prices rise with the market to recoup losses.
This is part of the drivers of rapidly rising prices that can follow a recessionary period - retailers and the like trying to claw back their missing profits from the lean years.
In my own profession IT, it was the Y2K and easy money policy in the late 90s that drove the "need" for IT professionals through the roof. It was a good thing that this was corrected, and it was a good thing that no artificial demand was created in the IT industry after the bust; the industry very quickly recovered and lots of people retooled.
Essentially the problem is not the now low demand, the problem is the artificially increased demand.
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