Maybe people don’t actually believe in merit, in near mode. Maybe they think they do, but they are really thinking about status.
Distributions based on merit (that we don’t recognize instinctively) simply seem unfair. Distributions based on tranparent luck seem like everyone at least had a fair chance.
Maybe the real problem with money is that it usually belongs to people we personally don’t know, so we don’t know what exactly they did and why exactly should we respect them, so it feels like they really don’t deserve the money. And the rest is rationalization.
Maybe people don’t actually believe in merit, in near mode. Maybe they think they do, but they are really thinking about status.
This is made worse by money anti-correlating with status when all other variables are controlled for, i.e., given two otherwise comparable jobs, the lower status one will pay more.
Maybe people don’t actually believe in merit, in near mode. Maybe they think they do, but they are really thinking about status.
Distributions based on merit (that we don’t recognize instinctively) simply seem unfair. Distributions based on tranparent luck seem like everyone at least had a fair chance.
Maybe the real problem with money is that it usually belongs to people we personally don’t know, so we don’t know what exactly they did and why exactly should we respect them, so it feels like they really don’t deserve the money. And the rest is rationalization.
This is made worse by money anti-correlating with status when all other variables are controlled for, i.e., given two otherwise comparable jobs, the lower status one will pay more.