Today I learned +

[Dannyalcatraz]

That has been widespread and common throughout much of history all over the world. I haven't watched the video (TL;DW), but European peasants were required to do work for their lords. Wikipedia article here.

For much of history, that's precisely what it did. One of the many things the French revolutionaries resented was corvée where they had to do e.g. road maintenance. And conscription could be considered a form of corvée.

Today's society has much more labor specialization, as well as an economy that's much more cash-based, so it's more convenient for everyone involved to tax people and use that tax money to pay people to work for the government.

One of the reasons we have “money” is because it makes commerce easier over distances, especially across borders.

It’s also because it’s a “value placeholder” by nature. We can all mostly agree on what the value of a dollar is, so it’s less of an issue than figuring out how many microchips you can get for a side of beef, 100 bushels of grain, or a custom made pair of boots…or swapping any of those in exchange for.

When you have currency, it’s easier to see what corvée is costing you personally. Your losses due to the time you’re away from your farm tending your crops because the government wants you to rebuild a bridge can be roughly calculated, even without taking into account factors like your being skilled at one and unskilled at the other.

 

[Aeson]

TIL about Henry George. His economic philosophy might fit into this conversation. Oddly, I learned about him from a video about a cult Hugh Jackman may or may not belong to.

Henry George - Wikipedia

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