Friday Drinks S10 E32: Free choice concept, Starlink entry & why companies are leaving Zimbabwe

A bunch of friends having a drink on a Friday discussing current affairs..

[@marv_168]

Always enjoy the conversations here and definitely sparking an interest in economics. Maybe not to the point of formal study, but at least just to gain a basic understanding initially before being able to hold my own amongst experts such as yourself. Where would one start to get a broad and balanced, non political view of economics?

[@fritzgmangayi8096]

Varume Ranga graduated today matomuisa mu court😂 great insights as usual💪

[@faraigamira]

starlink is full to capacity

[@tmutasa88]

The free choice argument falls apart when you realise that even the choices Tinashe was referring to in his drinks on the table argument have been limited to an extent for societal welfare. Yes you can choose Mazoe or Whisky but there’s no opioids on the table coz those are illegal as they are harmful to peoples health. Rufaro can have his whisky but not the whole bottle and still drive coz he’d then be a harm to everyone on the road. On the Starlink issue yes it’s an increase in choice which has great outcomes but they are regulated by data and information protection regulations in each market they operate in which limits what they can and can’t do coz people’s privacy can be compromised if this isn’t in place. There are also other players that are banned from operating in many markets as they don’t meet minimum standards to protect people’s privacy. To Ranga’s point choice is ok but a mechanism to ensure societal welfare is maintained within the freedoms people can have is also necessary

[@chrisvutete2109]

Libertarian paternalism kind of explanation

[@DannieHomer-g6c]

Joyce Forks

[@brookeshorter2220]

Garcia Cynthia Garcia Ronald Johnson Deborah

[@DougKneifel-s1o]

Stewart Terrace

[@mosesmarara798]

Congrats Ranga. Well done bro

[@ZFNCapitalFridayDrinks]

Thanks a ton

[@TafadzwaMundida]

I think the most likely impact of Starlink is they'll drive the local companies out of business then they'll raise prices

[@caspergambe2700]

Not with starlink.Prices may remain the same into the foreseeable future. US companies operate differently from our African brothers. Google fiber was introduced here in 2012 @$70 a month and it hasn't changed to date.

[@TafadzwaMundida]

@@caspergambe2700 check what has happened to Starlink prices in the US. Fibre is not Google's main source of profit, or in any way significant to their operations. Monopolies inevitably take advantage, the only thing that would keep them in check would be competition

[@VincenzaRuffin-f8r]

Smith Inlet

[@DominiqueEbadi-s3e]

Hoppe Rapid

[@HenryLisenby-i1h]

Wunsch Fields

[@gazathugrashad59]

telecom licenses are expensive mainly because of Spectrum scarcity. Spectrum is a finite resource and its usually sold via an auction to the highest bidder. $136 is not really that much considering potential of the industry. Thats around $7 million per year. $7 million is revenue from one revenue bucket like international incoming voice calls per month. starlink doesnt use the spectrum band like that of Mobile phones hence why their license is cheaper. im sure they use one for unlicensed spectrum ( for wi-fi)

[@tonymuko6747]

In what free market do mobile network operators enter the market for free..$137 million for 20 years was actually a bargain for Econet

[@WoodrowBehmer-t3f]

Jazlyn Port

[@FrederickSmith-n5q]

Schaefer Club

[@EchoMoster-c8b]

Amir Summit

[@nqobilencube4511]

Market is never free because the choice is beholden on the ones giving that choice and funny enough the ones purporting free choice actually limit the choices thereby making the whole free market system redundant because your free choice is limited by mere fact that the so called market is not free because if I alone have the product you want I have no real choice even if there is 100's of them but if the margins are negligeble essentially no free choice I. E if petrol at fuel stations inhibits by minor differences in price that in itself does not give me freedom because I now have to look at proximity rather than who is economically better the markets funny enough are actually socialist and borderline communist by their protectionism..

[@tanyamusara4103]

Tinashe and Rufaro and the austrian school fail to understand that markets can be complicated and can be regulated with a government or any one who has power over that market. I will give examples, we could have an open free kidney transplants market but we don't because the idea is repugnant. The digital porn market is essentially regulated buy payment processors just because they can. We are always going to have regulated markets because people are complicated and irrational. Isn't Milton Friedman a Chicago economist, tomato tomato. Markets also cannot be free when we have information symmetry all the time and when some of the value cannot be readily assigned a monetary value, there are moral implications in assigning value.

[@chenair6613]

Damn... You might want to give others a chance to articulate their opinion, guy in the middle. The show has three guys in it, not one.

[@rynenkhoma2653]

I disagree with Libertarians because their choices sometimes do not achieve pareto efficiency. For example in Social welfare.

[@tinayepedzisai3366]

Quite a depressing episode.