Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
There are a lot of studies that prove this. To me the most interesting is one that asked people whether they would rather be in a world where everyone earned $70k a year and they earned $100k, or one where they earned $125k and others earned $200k. People choose the first option most often. There's another where people are given the option of that $70k/year today or back 250 years ago. People choose to live back then and have lots of money. Logically, that makes zero sense because the standard of living back then, even with lots of money, was way worse. But we aren't particularly logical, just envious and status seeking. We don't want lots of money, we want more money than other people.
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Wouldn't the first option be the smart choice? Wouldn't the second scenario just result in higher cost of living for everyone?
If basic necessities consumed half the average persons income, scenario 1 nets you +$50k and scenario two nets you +$25k, which turns into +$12.5k relative to the +$50k once you factor in inflation.