tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post2372081081504533574..comments2024-03-14T11:09:32.759-05:00Comments on Falkenblog: Learning to Accept EnvyEric Falkensteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07243687157322033496noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-31858445359179617862011-10-06T09:54:00.070-05:002011-10-06T09:54:00.070-05:00thought you might appreciate this: "He unde...thought you might appreciate this: "He understood envy as well as anybody on the planet and carried it around with him, triple parking his car because he could, said Niehaus, adding that part of what he sold was envy."<br />http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/06/us-jobs-obit-idUSTRE7950CE20111006brujanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-48410873048329005322011-10-04T09:58:52.576-05:002011-10-04T09:58:52.576-05:00Evolution mostly works on genes, not on species. ...Evolution mostly works on genes, not on species. It should never be considered surprising or odd to find attributes that, like envy may be, are adaptive on an individual level but maladaptive on a species level. It's especially unsurprising to find envy in a species like ours with strong dimorphic sexual selection in our prehistory; for millions of years the genes that reproduced were preferentially the ones in men who were *relatively* better off than their competition.roystgnrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01462833587905117761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-9819270752005942672011-10-04T02:51:05.510-05:002011-10-04T02:51:05.510-05:00Confusing people about the distinction between “we...Confusing people about the distinction between “wealth” and “income” and then progressively taxing income while claiming to be taxing the “wealthy” is probably the worst single political economic crime possible to commit in public discourse.<br /><br />“Wealth” is not “income”. “Wealth” is property rights – net assets – the net in-place liquidation value of assets, etc.<br /><br />Since the primary function of government is the protection of non-subsistence property rights, it is sensible to charge a use fee for those rights. Note, I said “non-subsistence” property rights. The point here is that house and tools of the trade are protected from confiscation under bankruptcy law precisely because they are subsistence assets. Where government does not exist, subsistence properties are typically defended by the occupant, whose life is sustained by those assets. Government brings precisely the property rights we associate with civilization — assets beyond home and tools of the trade.<br /><br />Failing to charge a use fee or tax for property rights allows the truly wealthy, whose property rights would disappear in an instant in the absence of government protections, to continue to accumulate net assets without limit and without paying the costs of protection of those property rights—shifting them onto the heavily taxed producers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-62692132084125447422011-10-04T02:42:41.066-05:002011-10-04T02:42:41.066-05:00I have three basic questions for all would be poli...I have three basic questions for all would be political economists:<br /><br />1) If physicists conflated velocity with position the way you conflate income with wealth, where do you think technology would be today? Why do you think economic technology would be any better?<br /><br />2) If the primary function of government is to uphold property rights, then why is government funded by taxing economic activity rather than taxing property rights?<br /><br />3) Why don’t you ever answer the first 2 questions?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-4215180489997042172011-10-04T02:41:59.303-05:002011-10-04T02:41:59.303-05:00He then thinks, why not tax consumption progressiv...<i>He then thinks, why not tax consumption progressively, to the benefit of all? No fancy watches, cars, and grills, for anyone, will benefit everyone.</i><br /><br />The problem is conflation of the function (net in-place liquidation value of assets) with the derivative (income, capital gains, value added, sales, etc.).<br /><br />The result of this conflation is a brain-dead discourse in political economy.<br /><br />OF COURSE people who have vast property rights should pay more for the existence of the entity that upholds those property rights — just as they should pay more for property insurance.<br /><br />OF COURSE people who make X dollars a year should have zero tax burden as a result of those CHANGES in their net in-place liquidation value of assets.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-80883325012740685012011-10-03T18:27:52.643-05:002011-10-03T18:27:52.643-05:00I think envy is more base, and destructive, than g...I think envy is more base, and destructive, than greed. Indeed, I try to correct myself when envious asap, as opposed to greed, which I'm more OK with, personally. But what if envy describes people more generally? That may be depressing, but who said reality has non-depressing assumptions?Eric Falkensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07243687157322033496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-74551318231713545252011-10-03T16:53:11.955-05:002011-10-03T16:53:11.955-05:00The real point is in the bicycle story above. Env...The real point is in the bicycle story above. Envy exists, and is probably pretty important in explaining behavior, but that doesn't mean we have to elevate it to the status of an acceptable way to redistribute (steal). Having Brad DeLong and the government "break your bike" because envy is real, is every bit as disgusting as the gang of thugs in the former posters story.<br /><br />And of coures envy is different from greed. You can create a multitude of though experiments. If I give you two more of something you want than you'd ever have thought you'd obtain, but your friend four more, are you happy (greed) or sad (envy)?<br /><br />Saying envy matters, and saying we should use it to form policy like DeLong the thief says, thereby validating it, is very different.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-32491489393294698452011-10-03T15:48:46.711-05:002011-10-03T15:48:46.711-05:00Isn't the whole greed/envy dichotomy a fallacy...Isn't the whole greed/envy dichotomy a fallacy? Greed doesn't make sense without envy, at least from an economics viewpoint where property and wealth are relational (owning something is about denying other individuals access to said thing, it is always and entirely about ranking). <br /><br />It does follow that attributing different moral values to greed and envy doesn't make sense, indeed. Perhaps envy is a more complete explanation of the very same instinct usually understood as greed, that people have more trouble to accept.<br /><br />As for explaining the risk premium anomaly, what about simply human intuition being crap at probabilities? If you reformulated the "pricing risky assets" problem as a problem that present the same probabilities but as a problem or game that doesn't involve the personal well-being of the player, most people would probably still get it wrong in the very same way.<br /><br />Human ineptitude at probabilities is well documented, and makes sense from an evolutionary perspective as the sort of problems exemplified in asset pricing or gambling were not a problem we had to solve in the pre-industrial era while evolution was at work. Neanderthals with no skill for pricing derivatives could still breed as well as those who might have been good at it.Blixanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-84429589759807512632011-10-03T14:59:38.097-05:002011-10-03T14:59:38.097-05:00greed and envy are both sin and they both lead to ...greed and envy are both sin and they both lead to loss and, ultimately, death.<br /><br />being against the gov't taking your money is not greed, by the way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-23292332766382126532011-10-03T07:15:50.919-05:002011-10-03T07:15:50.919-05:00G-d is not envious, he is jealous.
Envy is wantin...G-d is not envious, he is jealous.<br /><br />Envy is wanting what others have, jealousy is wanting to deny others. Envy makes you build yourself up, jealousy makes you tear others down.Bennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-29196165774713769312011-10-03T05:20:29.633-05:002011-10-03T05:20:29.633-05:00I am sure I've linked to it previously, but in...I am sure I've linked to it previously, but in case that it somehow slipped into the spam folder: the whole work of the famous anthropologist Rene Girard revolves around the idea of envy. I really recommend his books (for example 'Violence and the Sacred').zbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04636763782334128869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-47081867065080243272011-10-03T04:20:53.484-05:002011-10-03T04:20:53.484-05:00When my rich uncle bought me a multigear bycicle (...When my rich uncle bought me a multigear bycicle (for my good grades), all the boys in my street gang united in destroying it. Envy is 100% destructive, they didnt want it for themselves, they wanted me to lose it. Lets generalize...Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05676167615981895061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-13670912229881652102011-10-03T01:27:11.089-05:002011-10-03T01:27:11.089-05:00when "envy" is in the small benign dose ...when "envy" is in the small benign dose that you mention, I think it is commonly called other names with less negative connotations. the typical "envious" guy is a sore loser, and nobody wants to be friends with sore losers. being looked down upon can't be that much of a survival advantage. maybe it's nature's way to make people who's genes' survival is getting in a desperate situation try desperate things. volatility is the only hope for the weak. in chess, the safest thing to do against a weaker opponent is to play a closed game. against a stronger one, try to open it up and then hope to get lucky. chances are very slim anyway, but that's the best you can do.B. A.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-84944866834607324022011-10-02T21:04:54.325-05:002011-10-02T21:04:54.325-05:00I used to envy people in the unhealthy kinds of wa...I used to envy people in the unhealthy kinds of ways, but now most of my envy is coupled with admiration (like when I speak to people who are more intelligent then I am, I obv. envy them and wanted to be higher IQ myself, but at the same time admire and respect the person). The "bad" kind of envy is the one where it comes isolated of these other nobler feelings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com