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This is a strangely divisive topic in the startup industry. For some reason, there are smart people who think that meritocracy works: work hard and things will
by d--b 10y ago
This is a strangely divisive topic in the startup industry.
For some reason, there are smart people who think that meritocracy works: work hard and things will be good for you. The problem is that in many cases working hard (as in building up a startup) does indeed give people the opportunity to rise in society. But it is not true in all cases at all. And so the negative statement "if you are struggling you didn't try enough" is completely flawed.
First, in capitalism, a work's remuneration is supposed to be related in a way to the perceived utility of that work for society in general. Second competition means that a work's remuneration is inversely proportional to how easy it is to perform.
Using those 2 propositions, it becomes obvious that jobs with little utility and high competition have a remuneration that tends to go down to 0 (fast food, taxis, etc.). So in these cases, no matter how hard you work, your pay can only go that high.
- imgabe 10y ago> First, in capitalism, a work's remuneration is supposed to be related in a way to the perceived utility of that work for society in general. This is a misconception, I think. A work's remuneration is related to the utility perceived by the person providing the remuneration. Society in general doesn't pay people. Specific people pay other people. Find something enough people want and give it to them. It's not any more complicated than that.
- ice109 10y agoyou're wrong. if some good is over valued for long enough market dynamics kick in and the price will go down.
- 1_2__3 10y agoThat's the Econ 101 textbook statement, not reality.
- d--b 10y agoThat's why I wrote "supposed". In reality it's a lot more complex than that, but it is usually one argument brought forward to explain why CEOs are being paid more than the workers they manage.
- sharemywin 10y agodid that bought a pizza shop and increased sales 50% and I got a bankruptcy out of it. because the other part of it is at a lower cost. I pretty much felt Adam Smith's hand smacking me in the face with every tweak. open more hours sales go up just enough to cover costs. increase menu items. lower items. lower prices. raise prices. advertise more the advertising company makes more money but only enough to cover food and labor.
- rsync 10y ago"The problem is that in many cases working hard (as in building up a startup) does indeed give people the opportunity to rise in society." I have never seen that to be a problem. How would propose that we "fix" that problem ?
- jharger 10y agoI think the parent's sentence structure is a bit confusing, but I read that as: "The problem is, that while in many cases working hard (as in building up a startup) does indeed give people the opportunity to rise in society, it is not true in all cases at all; so the negative statement 'if you are struggling you didn't try enough' is completely flawed." i.e. the problem is that hard work does not always (or even not often) equal success in society.
- d--b 10y agocorrect, sorry for the poor syntax...