From: steve (steve365@btinternet.com)
Date: Mon Mar 18 2002 - 06:42:35 MST
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Rogers" <jamesr@best.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 2:11 AM
Subject: FW: Research Shows Just How Much People Hate A Winner
>
> Research like this is not conducive to making one an optimist.
>
> -James Rogers
> jamesr@best.com
>
>
<rather chilling paper>
This research actually made the national press here in Britain a couple of
months ago. It even made my local paper (the Manchester Evening News).
(Interestingly, their take on it was that it showed people didn't like
people such as a certain well known football player who plays near here.)
Apart from its implications for technical economics (this blows a big hole
in several models of 'rational choice') I think there are two distinct
messages, one not so discouraging, the other very, very, discouraging. The
key finding for me is that there are two kinds of 'burners'. The first are
those who do less well in the initial allocation and/or betting stage. They
only 'burn' the better off when they perceive that they do not deserve their
winnings. The problem for the two economists is that while they recognise
the importance of a notion of desert for the 'burners' they have no way of
defining it or modelling it. This finding confirms what anecdotal evidence
and empirical social research here in Britain would tell you, that there is
relatively low hostility to wealth and success when these are seen as earned
by hard work, ingenuity, or skill but very strong resentment of wealth which
is seen as disproportionate to any effort or the result of institutional
factors rather than the qualities of the individual involved. The second
kind of 'burners' are those who are relatively successful but still chose to
'burn' and when they do, 'burn' the lucky and unlucky alike. This is much
more disturbing and hard to explain except as pure envy and malice or
dislike of any kind of inequality, no matter how caused. I agree that a way
to check some of the findings would be to offer the option of transferring
some of your gains to others. Steve Davies
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