Kindness leads to Gift Exchange
After reading through the three articles, it was quite obvious
that there is an unfair distribution of wealth in our country and that people
act in their own self-interest. When taking wealth into account, it is human
nature to act greedy and use their wealth to better themselves. Adam Smith was spot
on when describing the concept of the Invisible Hand and how it drives the economy
as a whole. The first piece, How to Get the Rich to Share Marbles by Jonathan
Haidt, brought up some very interesting findings on how children performing the
same amount of work share their “income.” In the experiment, the kids shared
their wealth when they had both been required to pull the rope together. The
kids who were lucky enough to get a rope that produced more marbles were less
likely to split the wealth, even though they were both doing the same type and
amount of work. There are lots of people pulling the rope in this country who
receive a smaller piece of the pie. To be born with opportunity and in a good
community is luck of the draw. We are extremely fortunate to have had the opportunities
we’ve had and to be living in one of the best countries in the world, if not the
best. While I do believe that some people deserve to be paid more depending on
their occupation, I think the difference in certain salaries is unjustifiable. Doctors, for example, get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do their job while someone
working in a coal factory makes a fraction of their income. While I can understand
why doctors get paid more to save lives, the difference, in my opinion, is
unjustifiable.
Sometimes people who are paid more leads them to engage in
acts of altruism or gift exchange. Although, whether they are getting paid more
or because they are just “good people” at heart is something that isn’t quite
clear. When people have more money, they can live more comfortably. This
is contrary to the invisible hand and neo-classical models since it factors in
emotion and ethics to decision making. There are various things I have done in
life to help create or give people an experience that has been similar to mine.
On-campus, I am involved in Global Leaders Orange and Blue Engagement (GLOBE)
which is an organization that works with foreign students to help them become
more accustomed to domestic student life. Every week, I volunteer time out of
my day to meet with them and do fun activities. I really enjoy doing this as
seeing them smile makes me happy knowing they are having a good time as a
foreign exchange student. When I studied in Italy, I was treated very well by
students involved in a similar organization at the Italian university. Having
this experience when I was a foreign exchange student led me to reciprocate the
favor. Therefore, there is definitely an element of gift exchange that comes
from people wanting to return the favor. I think that if kindness would be more
common in this world then we would see more gift exchange is done. It is not
easy to go out of your way to do a random act of kindness. It often requires
you to put in extra effort and time that you would’ve never needed to do if you
had carried on with your day.
Overall, to achieve a world where people engage in
gift exchange and altruism we need to spread kindness. If you are more fortunate
than someone whether it is wealth, physical capabilities, connections, etc. it should
be your duty to better someone else’s day. To achieve fairness and
equality, I believe it starts with everyone being a leader and trying to make
someone else’s day/life better off than it was before.
"To be born with opportunity and in a good community is luck of the draw." Is it? As there is a lot written about income inequality these days, particularly within the U.S., you should be aware of the data on this. Consider this piece by Joe Stiglitz, The American Economy Is Rigged. (If you are on the campus network you should have access to this article.) If the article is right, then it isn't luck of the draw. It's all about your parents and where they are in the system.
ReplyDeleteOn your comment about unequal pay, I agree, mostly. The real inequality is at the very upper end of the income distribution - CEO pay in large corporations, those who run private equity firms, etc. Doctors who are generalists are paid well relative to the rest of the population, but don't get paid an inordinate amount. Specialists are paid a lot more. Some argue that the possibility of being sued for malpractice exacerbates these pay differentials.
It's good that you get some satisfaction from volunteer work. You probably don't have enough paid work experience to consider this alternative, but some people volunteer in a paying job and some jobs feature that with them there is a good deal of empathy for people who receive the services. Getting back to doctors, there is an organization called Doctors Without Borders. That is but one example of this. I wonder if you've considered volunteering where the beneficiaries are from lower income families. Most of the international students on campus wouldn't count that way, because they are paying big bucks in tuition, which lower income students couldn't afford to do.
I found The American Economy Is Rigged by Joe Stiglitz to be quite an informative article. While our nation is very special in terms of our achievements, it's quite ironic that we cannot afford economic equality for our citizens. It is definitely up to your parents as to what opportunities you will have, however what I was arguing was that we could've have parents birthed us in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, by luck of the draw I simply meant that we are very fortunate to have been born in to the parents we were. I found the graph of the "fading American Dream" to be quite interesting. I don't know whether this is actually true, or if it is just relative to how people lived and what they made a century before. I believe that it is still considered the American Dream if you were to immigrate from a developing nation where you once lived in a tent to upgrade to a public housing. While you may not be able to found your own company, the living standards have continued to rise over time. A hundred years ago, having a bathroom in your house instead of an outhouse would've been considered a luxury. Nowadays, everyone has toilets in there house regardless of how impoverished they live.
ReplyDeleteI also completely agree with your point that CEOs are ridiculously overpaid. There are people that work one-two positions under them and perform just as much if not more work but make yet a fraction of their salary. The medical profession may need to protect themselves from a litigating patient which justifies partly their higher salaries. The other half would come from their expertise from schooling and their own investment in their education.
I actually have taken a mission trip to Nicaragua where I volunteered to work with orphans. I was assigned a god-child and with my team, improved their living conditions immensely. It was extremely eye-opening to see just how impoverished they were. We created a sustainable fishery for them, and revamped their soccer field. It was incredible to see their faces light up and it was an experience I will never forget. In the future, I plan to use my education to help lower-income families make good decisions revolving around personal finance.