Just a Bit More

There is a Zillow billboard that I see on my way home from work. It reads: "Sell for more than the house next door." I saw a post on Reddit from a person complaining that a recent raise wasn't large enough considering how much the company owner made. And people wonder why inflation rises.

Just as no single raindrop feels responsible for the flood, no single person looking to maximize their home's selling price, angling for a raise or otherwise attempting to line their pockets sees their actions as contributing to overall inflation. But it's just these sorts of individual decisions that play a part. Granted, they don't directly play into choices by the Federal Reserve to increase the overall supply of money in the economy, which is a much larger single factor in determining a current level of inflation, but the money people want for themselves has to come from somewhere. And as people seek to raise the prices they are paid for their own assets and labor, other people are doing the same.

The ability to move through the world on a day-to-day basis without needing to understand (sometimes at even a basic level) how it works is both a blessing and a curse. It allows people to concentrate on the things in front of them in the moment, and, in so doing, allows society overall to be more efficient. The time and energy needed to make everyone an economist is, in many circumstances a waste, and cutting it out is better for everyone. But it means that people often don't understand their own part in events that happen around them.