In a world where this is the main way one acquires money, there should be a similar generalized presumption that even a perfectly benevolent person should hold onto a disproportionate share of the money they earn.
Well, this does presume that (some of) the capital that one needs to produce value is money. This is the case if you’re Amazon, but it isn’t the case if you’re a programmer. An excellent programmer, who is suddenly given $1,000,000, is not a much better programmer for it. It doesn’t increase his ability to be more productive via programming.
I agree that there are more and less capital-intensive types of work, but it might make sense for the excellent programmer to use some of their surplus to outsource nonprogramming tasks (e.g. order delivery, hire a cleaning service, pay for high-quality day care for their kids), to free up more time for the thing they have the greatest comparative advantage at.
Nitpick:
Well, this does presume that (some of) the capital that one needs to produce value is money. This is the case if you’re Amazon, but it isn’t the case if you’re a programmer. An excellent programmer, who is suddenly given $1,000,000, is not a much better programmer for it. It doesn’t increase his ability to be more productive via programming.
I agree that there are more and less capital-intensive types of work, but it might make sense for the excellent programmer to use some of their surplus to outsource nonprogramming tasks (e.g. order delivery, hire a cleaning service, pay for high-quality day care for their kids), to free up more time for the thing they have the greatest comparative advantage at.