I don't know if you change vibes with 1-time payment when expenses are perceived as continuing to rise while continuing income from all sources is perceived as being near flat. 4/n - ThreadSky

jrobson.bsky.social • 108 days ago

I don't know if you change vibes with 1-time payment when expenses are perceived as continuing to rise while continuing income from all sources is perceived as being near flat.
4/n

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jrobson.bsky.social•108 days ago

2) It's not clear that normal humans (sometimes called "low information") will even know about the payment. 80% of payments by the CRA are direct deposit. Remember the whole issue of banks not labeling the carbon rebates? Same thing. Also many don't check their accounts regularly.
5/n

jrobson.bsky.social•108 days ago

I don't know how you expect to change vibes by handing out $ that people may know they received.

Even the 20% who will get paper cheques (and this is for ALL taxfilers, I suspect those with work income are even more likely to be on direct deposit) won't get a clearly-labeled feel-good cheque.
6/n

jrobson.bsky.social•108 days ago

may *not* know they received

🙄

jrobson.bsky.social•108 days ago

It'll be standard GoC yellowish signed by the Receiver General (10 points if you can name him without searching) and a typed memo notation in courier font above the perforated line with a bunch of reference numbers and maybe two words of description like "Working Rebate".
Inspiring stuff, no?
7/n

jrobson.bsky.social•108 days ago

3) It's not clear if people respond psychologically to benefit payments the same way they do to work income. If you think they value leisure, then you should anticipate benefits are appreciated more than work income. If you think that control and agency are important, then..
8/n

jrobson.bsky.social•108 days ago

you should anticipate that benefit income will be less appreciated. The extant literature on this is pretty scant and has mixed results. A colleague at @carletonu.bsky.social and I are working on something but too early to say anything. Stay tuned.
9/n

jrobson.bsky.social•108 days ago

If, instead, people felt that services from gov't (and sorry, they may not differentiate by order here) like healthcare, passports, garbage pick up, traffic, etc... were meeting their needs, maybe then the "vibes" about government would be different.
10/n

carastern.bsky.social•105 days ago

Is it so much a perception that costs continue to rise, or that achieving the normal lifestyle one expects in Canada (being able to afford a home, have kids, etc) is out of reach?

I know there are people who are richer than they think but a lot of younger Canadians are struggling. It isn't vibes.

carastern.bsky.social•105 days ago

I know economic indicators show things are improving but I also know how terrible the job market is for people trying to improve their lives, and housing costs haven't come down. For those who don't already have, those economic indicators seem meaningless and the "vibes" comment seems gaslighty.

jrobson.bsky.social•105 days ago

I’m not saying no one is struggling.
My work is centred on lower and modest income households.
Ie: https://www.airquotesmedia.com/quotes/immaculate-disinflation-robson-11feb2024
Not gaslighting.
Take care.

carastern.bsky.social•105 days ago

I mean seeing the finance minister Chrystia Freeland say that feels like gaslighting and ignoring people's reality, not your work. :)

I'm not even talking about low-modest incomes. Even people making decent-high incomes but without assets are struggling right now for real, not as a perception.

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