I think there are a few glaring problems with this model, though I like the direction of analysis.
First and foremost, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law. There are no universal, externally-published data that make good social signals. And there can be none—they will be quickly gamed and perverted to no longer be a credible signal.
Many cultures/subcultures have a complex interchange between respect and envy for many otherwise-positive attributes. Uncontrolled publication of such attributes can attract family or social demands or undesired attention.
Counter-signaling is a thing. The attitude “I’m so confident in my future that I don’t need to save money” is probably not what you’re hoping to see.
Basically, signaling and group behavior is way more complicated than this acknowledges, and for policy (or even nudge/assistance/charitable) planning there are a lot of elements of human behavior that need to be treated as adversarial rather than just a bad random equilibrium. Unfortunate behaviors have many causes, and are “sticky” when culturally reinforced, almost as if there were an opposing player keeping you in the least convenient world.
I think there are a few glaring problems with this model, though I like the direction of analysis.
First and foremost, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law. There are no universal, externally-published data that make good social signals. And there can be none—they will be quickly gamed and perverted to no longer be a credible signal.
Many cultures/subcultures have a complex interchange between respect and envy for many otherwise-positive attributes. Uncontrolled publication of such attributes can attract family or social demands or undesired attention.
Counter-signaling is a thing. The attitude “I’m so confident in my future that I don’t need to save money” is probably not what you’re hoping to see.
Basically, signaling and group behavior is way more complicated than this acknowledges, and for policy (or even nudge/assistance/charitable) planning there are a lot of elements of human behavior that need to be treated as adversarial rather than just a bad random equilibrium. Unfortunate behaviors have many causes, and are “sticky” when culturally reinforced, almost as if there were an opposing player keeping you in the least convenient world.